Australia Market extends gain to 2nd day

The Australian share market finished higher for second consecutive session on Tuesday, 24 August 2021, on the back of positive lead from Wall Street overnight, stronger commodity prices and a raft of strong corporate earnings.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 13.05 points, or 0.17%, to 7,502.98. The broader All Ordinaries added 12.53 points, or 0.16%, to 7,773.68.

Total 7 of 11 sectors ended higher along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index, with energy was the best performing sector, gaining 2.8%, while consumer staple was the worst performing sector, losing 1.2%.

Energy stocks gained as crude oil prices jumped more than 5% after seven sessions of declines. Origin Energy, Santos and Woodside Petroleum rose over 3% each. Papua New Guinea-focused Oil Search gained 3% after it bounced back to a first-half profit.

Nanosonics shares soared up 21.9% after infection prevention company forecasted double-digit revenue growth in fiscal 2022.

Uniti Group shares climbed up 8.4% after Wireless broadband services reported record revenue and earnings for the year.

Ansell (ANN) shares shed 9.2% on its FY21 results even as revenue lifted 26% to US$2 billion and net profit rose 58% to US$246.7 million. ANN also increased its final dividend but warned that sales could be impacted by supply disruptions in South East Asia in FY22 due to increased COVID-19 cases in the region.

Boral (BLD) dropped 5.5% as the building materials maker is cautious for the upcoming year due to the COVID-19 restrictions and the NSW construction shutdown in July, expected to hit first quarter earnings (EBIT) by $50 million.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7227, still off levels above $0.729 seen last week.

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