Australian sharemarket rallies to five-day high on US interest rate hopes, BHP and Woodside announce new chief executives

Australia’s sharemarket recovery continues, closing at a five day high as traders shift their attention from the threat in the Middle East to potential interest rate cuts out of the United States. The benchmark ASX 200 closed up 26.30 points or 0.31 per cent to 8640.60, while the broader All Ordinaries traded up 28.30 points or 0.32 per cent to 8847.70. Australia’s dollar is buying 71.14 US cents, as the RBA lifted the cash rate to 4.10 per cent on Tuesday, while the Federal Reserve will potentially cut rates on Wednesday. On an overall positive day of trading 10 of the 11 sectors closed higher. Technology shares were the biggest winners, led by NextDC which rallied 3.55 per cent to $13.71, while accounting software Xero added 2.28 per cent to $79.39 and family safety app Life360 jumped 2.85 per cent to $19.48. Two of the big three iron ore miners also closed higher, as BHP added 0.72 per cent to $50.09, while Rio Tinto closed up 0.77 per cent to $156.38. Offsetting the gains was Fortescue metals which slid 1.25 per cent to $19.70. The mining shares rose on falling oil prices. This was despite a further escalation in the US/ Israel and Iran conflict the price of the global benchmark Brent crude fell by as much as 2.5 per cent to $US100.81 ($A140) a barrel. Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda says the market was largely benign overnight, although the risks haven’t diminished. “The war rages on and its main theatre is the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. “Signs of trickling supply from Iran out of the region to China and other allies have eased fears about completely choking off energy exports. “But that’s largely being tolerated as the US and Israel attempt to avoid dragging other bigger players into the fray.” He also said markets are focusing on a huge couple of days of central bank meetings. “The Fed is the most significant and although it’s all but certain to keep policy unchanged, the guidance and an updated Summary of Economic Projections will be critical,” Mr Rodda said. “The US economy was already entering murky territory before the energy shock, with the labour market deteriorating as inflation showed signs of drifting away from target.” Healthcare was the only sector that traded in the red, led by falls from heavyweight CSL which dragged 2.23 per cent to $138, while Pro Medicus dropped 2.19 per cent to $125.31 and Cochlear fell 0.73 per cent to $172.43. In company news shares in ARN Media dropped 1.47 per cent to $0.34 after it announced the termination of its contract with Kyle Sandilands and Quasara Media Services. Following this announcement the formerly top rate Kyle and Jackie O show has finished. Shares in buy now pay later platform Humm rallied 6.11 per cent to $0.70 after Australia’s Takeover Panel found Humm’s disclosure on the Credit Corp bid misleading and undermined an informed market. BHP announced chief executive Mike Henry will leave the business after 25 years and has tapped its American division president and former Pilbara iron ore boss Brandon Craig to run the mining giant. Woodside also announced it has a new top boss with former ExxonMobil and EnergyAustralia senior executive Liz Westcott moving into the chief executive role. Shares traded marginally higher, up 0.064 per cent to $31.44. Droneshield outperformed up 10.45 per cent to $4.44, while Iperionx Limited was the biggest laggard down 4.70 per cent to $4.05.