Miners, banks lift ASX by 0.8pct at noon

Derek Rose | May 25, 2022

Gains for the mining sector and the big banks have helped the Australian share market put in a solid performance this morning despite an overnight drop on Wall Street 

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 56.8 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 7,185.6 at noon, while the All Ordinaries had risen 51.6 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 7,424.8.

The mining sector was the biggest gainer, with BHP up 2.7 per cent to $43.70, Rio Tinto climbing 2.5 per cent to $113.25 and Fortescue Metals up 1.6 per cent to $21.10.

NAB and Westpac had both risen by 2.6 per cent, to $31.89 and $23.97, respectively, while Commonwealth had advanced 1.5 per cent to $106.69 and ANZ added 0.8 per cent to $25.57.

Tech shares were down sharply again, collectively falling 2.5 per cent, following an overnight profit warning by the company that owns US social media giant Snapchat.

Snap Inc plunged 43 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange after advising that the “macroeconomic environment has deteriorated further and faster than anticipated” since it issued guidance in April.

Afterpay owner Block fell 5.2 per cent, Tyro Payments dropped 4.5 per cent to an all-time low of 96 cents and Wisetech Global fell by 3.7 per cent.

Airtasker rebounded after recently hitting an all-time low, climbing 8 per cent to 40.5 cents, after the online services marketplace completed its acquisition of home improvement marketplace Oneflare.

Costa Group was up 4.8 per cent to $3.05 after chief executive Sean Hallahan reaffirmed guidance at the horticulture company’s annual general meeting and said that the Far North Queensland berry season had begun strongly.

Woodside was up 0.5 per cent to $29.13 as the oil and natural gas producer began trading under the ticker code WDS, representing its new name, Woodside Energy Group. 

Worley was up 3.4 per cent to $15.25 after the engineering company won two contracts – one to build a plant in Nebraska that’ll use vegetable oil to make diesel fuel , and another to expand a plant in the United Arab Emirates that produces polyethylene and polypropylene.