Australian News Today

Australian shares rise as banks, tech gain; Woodside and Lynas fall

Australian shares rise as banks, tech gain; Woodside and Lynas fall

July 23 – Australian shares rose on Tuesday to snap a three-session losing streak, with banking and technology stocks leading the rebound, while Lynas Rare Earths and Woodside emerged as the top losers after reporting dismal quarterly updates.

The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.6% to 7,976.5 by 0028 GMT. The Aussie dollar was 0.02% weaker against the U.S. dollar at A$0.66.

Banks gained 0.5% after three consecutive sessions of falls amid renewed interest rate hike fears. The “Big Four” banks inched higher between 0.6% and 0.8%.

Technology stocks climbed 1.7% after their Wall Street peers closed higher overnight. WiseTech Global rose 2.8% and Xero gained 1.5%.

Overnight, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.32%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.08%, and the Nasdaq gained 1.58%. S&P 500 E-minis futures were down 0.11% on Tuesday. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 4.2486% compared with its U.S. close of 4.26%.

Back in Australia, miners climbed 0.3%, even though Dalian iron ore futures fell 1%.

Lynas declined as much as 2.8% to hit its lowest in more than three months after the rare earths miner posted a drop in quarterly revenue, hit by lower production at its Kalgoorlie facility in Western Australia and weaker underlying prices.

Limiting the gains in the benchmark stock index, energy stocks fell 0.8% after oil prices dropped overnight.

Brent crude futures fell 0.11% per barrel on Tuesday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 0.14% per barrel.

Woodside slipped as much as 2.4% after it flagged a jump in the estimated cost of its Scarborough project to $12.5 billion.

Gold stocks gained 0.4% after two sessions of falls. Bullion prices were marginally down.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was trading 0.6% higher.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.