On Wednesday, the Australian sharemarket experienced its largest one-day rally in over a year, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index surging 1.7% to 7178.4 points, driven by increased speculation of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank. This marked the largest gain since November 2022, and the market now fully anticipates an RBA rate cut in December 2024, up from a 33% probability the previous week. Interest rate-sensitive sectors like real estate, banking, and technology saw strong performance, while GDP growth in the third quarter was lower than expected, indicating ongoing economic challenges.
Additionally, Woodside Energy signed a significant liquefied natural gas purchase agreement, Perpetual announced a strategic review amid acquisition interest, and Evolution Mining raised substantial capital through share placement. Magellan Financial Group reported growth in its funds under management for November.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 73 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 14.50 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 75.75 points.
The SPI futures are up 132 points.
Best and worst performers
All sectors are in the black. The best-performing sector was REITs, up 3.12 per cent. The sector with the fewest gains was Utilities, up 0.55 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), closing 5.57 per cent higher at $3.41. It was followed by shares in IGO (ASX:IGO) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN).
The worst-performing large cap was Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), closing 13.04 per cent lower at $3.60. It was followed by shares in Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM) and Origin Energy (ASX:ORG).
Asian markets
Japan’s Nikkei has gained 1.92 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 1.15 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.11 per cent.
Company news
Latin Resources (ASX:LRS) has announced a 56% increase in the JORC resource at the Salinas Lithium Project. In response, Latin Resources Managing Director, Chris Gale, commented, “What a great effort from our exploration team. Another significant milestone met with our upgraded MRE to over 70Mt. This Project is fast becoming a Tier One lithium resource as we predicted.” Shares closed 11.76 per cent higher at 19 cents.
Lanthanein Resources (ASX:LNR) has entered into a transaction to earn up to a 70% interest in the Lady Grey Lithium Project at Mount Holland in the Forrestania Greenstone Belt. In response, Mr Brian Thomas, Technical Director of Lanthanein commented, “This transaction positions Lanthanein with a prospective lithium project in one of the most desired jurisdictions for lithium explorers in Western Australia.” Shares closed 116.67 per cent higher at 1.3 cents.
Noble Helium (ASX:NHE) provides the following further information to Monday’s update on drilling results at Mbelele at the Company’s North Rukwa Helium Project in Tanzania. The results show free gas column of mixed helium and nitrogen at crest of Mbelele structure, potential to underwrite monetisation plans and helium-rich fluids within deeper high quality stacked reservoirs provide significant upside as a resource play. Shares closed flat at 17 cents.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,041.00 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.3 per cent higher at US$131.40 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 2.20 per cent rise.
Light crude is trading $0.01 higher at US$72.33 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 65.88 US cents.