ASX rises as tech stocks shine, Wall St rallies

By Jessica Yun
Updated

Welcome to your five-minute update on the trading day.

The numbers: The ASX200 was up 0.4 per cent around midday on Monday off the back of a solid rally from Wall Street and almost every sector in the green.

At 12:30pm AEST, the benchmark index was up 26.2 points to 7,058.7 points.

The ASX is off to a positive start on Monday.
The ASX is off to a positive start on Monday. Credit:iStock

The lifters: Core Lithium up 10.9% after releasing an update on exploration activities; Pointsbet up 6.9% after State Street became a substantial holder; and Megaport up 5.5%.

The laggards: Beach Energy -13.4% after revealing oil production fell 15%; Bendigo and Adelaide Bank -8.8% amid a profit slide; AMP -3.8%.

The lowdown: Almost every sector is in the green, with the tech and real estate sectors performing particularly well.

Despite fears of a spending slowdown, customers have still been opening their wallets, according to electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi. Their investors will pocket a final dividend of $1.53.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, oil companies have seen soaring demand and ever-climbing prices, though Beach Energy has been hammered over results that disappointed investors.

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Monday’s positive start comes after the benchmark index posted its fourth week of gains last week.

Wall Street capped a choppy week of trading with a broad stock market rally on Friday, as the S&P 500 notched its fourth consecutive weekly gain.

Wall Street surged higher on Friday.
Wall Street surged higher on Friday.Credit:AP

The benchmark index closed 1.7 per cent higher, for a 3.3 per cent weekly gain. The S&P 500 hadn’t posted such a good stretch since November.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3 per cent, while the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 index of smaller companies both closed 2.1 per cent higher. Each index also posted a solid weekly gain.

Though the US and Australian sharemarkets have bounced back from their recent lows, this could be a false dawn, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.

The US central bank has been raising interest rates in the hopes of slowing the economy and cooling the hottest inflation in four decades, but investors are worried that it could hit the brakes too aggressively and steer the economy into a recession.

with AP

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Source: Thanks smh.com