Australia Market extends gains to third day; Omicron woes limit upside

The Australian share market finished higher for third straight session on Wednesday, 22 December 2021, as sentiment was lifted up on tracking overnight advances on Wall Street, although worries over the economic fallout from the Omicron coronavirus variant capped upside gains.

Most of S&P/ASX200 sectors advanced, with shares in technology, energy, healthcare, and telecom sectors being notable gainers and helped to offset losses in realty and materials stocks.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 9.72 points, or 0.13%, to 7,364.77. The broader All Ordinaries index added 15.88 points, or 0.21%, to 7,682.56.

The top performing stocks in this index were LINK ADMINISTRATION HOLDINGS and PILBARA MINERALS, up 15.03% and 8.76% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were FALCON METALS and CHARTER HALL GROUP, down 37% and 7.5% respectively.

Shares of information technology sector out-performed the market, with Link Administration leading rally with gains of 15% to A$5.51 after software company Dye & Durham lodged a A$3.7 billion buyout at A$5.50 per share. The deal includes Link's 43% stake in PEXA, which itself gained 6% to A$17.23. Also in the information technology sector, Afterpay gained 5.4% and WiseTech gained 2.9%.

Charter Hall Group dropped 7.5% to A$19.99 on news it would pay A$207 million for a 50%stake in Paradice Investment Management, with the option to buy the rest of it 2025.

Chalice Mining's gold assets spin-off Falcon Metals had a dreadful debut on the ASX today, dropping 37% to A$0.315. Falcon raised A$30 million from investors at 50c a share valuing the company at A$88 million.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7135 after climbing from below 0.712 earlier this week.

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