Australia: Shares climb on strong earnings, boost from miners

AUSTRALIAN shares climbed on Thursday (Aug 25) as miners jumped on strong underlying commodity prices and a slew of positive earnings reports boosted sentiment, while investors awaited a US central bank gathering for interest rate hike clues.

Market participants await US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday. The speech could throw some light on the Fed’s monetary policy tightening path.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6 per cent to 7041.8 by 12.02 am GMT, after ending 0.5 per cent higher on Wednesday.

Bucking the trend, Woolworths dropped 4.6 per cent after the retailer posted a nearly flat annual profit on supply chain snarls and team absenteeism.

Gold stocks advanced 2.8 per cent and were the top gainers on the benchmark, with the country’s largest gold miner Newcrest Mining jumping 2.7 per cent.

Energy stocks and miners were also among the biggest gainers, surging 2.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively on improved commodity prices.

Shares in South 32 gained 0.8 per cent after the miner posted a more than fivefold jump in annual profit.

Whitehaven Coal, on the other hand, dropped 3.4 per cent, even as the coal miner posted its highest-ever annual profit for fiscal 2022.

With the corporate reporting season in full swing, investors took cues from a number of earnings reports that lifted the broader market higher.

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Leading gains on the benchmark, IDP Education jumped 11.9 per cent, after the education services firm more than tripled its annual profit.

Qantas rose 7.1 per cent after the airline said its financial performance improved in the second half.

Charter Hall edged 6.8 per cent higher on nearly doubling its annual profit.

Pendal Group surged 10.7 per cent after the company disclosed a takeover offer from Australian asset manager Perpetual.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was largely unchanged. REUTERS