Australia: Shares rise on miners, energy boost; Brambles sinks

AUSTRALIAN stocks inched higher on Tuesday, lifted by mining and energy companies, although a slide shares of Brambles and worries of a recession kept sentiment in check. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.3 per cent to 7,113.0 by 0010 GMT, extending gains for a third straight session. Brambles fell 6.8 per cent to be the top loser on the benchmark after European private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners ended preliminary talks with the company over a potential A$20 billion (S$19.5 billion) takeover offer. Meanwhile, data showing a sharp fall in Chinese retail and factory activity in April, due to severely disrupted supply chains due to Covid-19 lockdowns, raised concerns of economic health globally. Among other individual stocks and sectors, higher iron ore prices pushed miners to climb 1.2 per cent. BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals gained between 0.9 per cent and 2.2 per cent. Energy stocks added 1.6 per cent to lead gains on the benchmark as they tracked strong oil prices. Heavyweights Woodside Petroleum and Santos were up nearly 2 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively. Technology stocks slipped up to 1.3 per cent, tracking losses in its Wall Street peers. ASX-listed shares of Block Inc fell 3.8 per cent. Financials advanced 0.5 per cent with the “Big Four” banks rising 0.1 per cent to 0.87 per cent. Strong bullion prices led gold stocks to rise 1.1 per cent, with the country’s largest gold miner Newcrest Mining up nearly 1 per cent. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.26 per cent to 11,128.9 points. REUTERS