The Australian stock market has started the week with strong gains in morning trading following Friday’s Wall Street rally, but is starting to decline as technology and mining stocks lose initial momentum.
The ASX 200 rose 75 points, or 1.2 percent, to 6,615.2 points at 11:44 a.m., with real estate stocks topping the index, which rose 2.8 percent . Investors are preparing for the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates on Tuesday.
All sectors except mining stocks rose, and shares of health, utilities, energy and discretionary consumption also rose more than 1.6 percent.
The ASX 200 rose Monday after a rise on Wall Street last week. Credit: Louie Douvis
The big four banks rose marginally, while the now-buying and later payment service Zip Co. rose more than 6 percent in the first few minutes of business before settling 2.1 percent higher in the noon. Falling iron ore prices caused BHP to fall 1.1 percent this morning.
The technology sector initially led the market with an increase of almost 3 per cent at the start of trading, before reducing gains to stand 0.6 per cent more at the end of the morning.
Elevators: Ingenia Communities Group 5.8%, Imugene 5.1%, James Hardie Industries 4.7%
The laggards: Pointsbet Holdings -5.6%, Magellan Financial Group -5.1%, Liontown Resources -3%
Financial management firm Link Group was down 1% after news this morning that it had rejected a revised takeover bid from Canadian information giant Dye & Durham. The initial $ 3 billion acquisition proposal came to a halt after the Australian competition control body raised concerns about the impact of the deal on the transfer of property sector, given its potential to give Dye & Durham significant control over the market.
Dye & Durham reduced its initial offer from $ 5.50 per share to $ 4.30, and Link Group told the market that it “continued to partner with Dye & Durham” to reach an agreement.