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The ASX 200 ended on a positive closing note before Santa’s arrival (a fair bit) later this evening with a 0.29% gain, adding a short 24 points to 8,217.
Real Estate was today’s top sector leader, ending the day up 0.82%, followed by Healthcare, which was up 0.8%, and Energy, up 0.7%.
On the other end, Materials closed down 0.33%, followed by Industrials, down 0.1%.
We also got a peek into the RBA minutes from the Australian central bank’s December policy meeting, where investors saw the general sentiment – which saw interest rates remain unchanged – was that inflation is “still too high.”
“The staff’s most recent forecasts did not see inflation returning sustainably to the midpoint of the target until 2026,” the minutes read. How’s that for Chrissy cheer?
Winners
On a happier note, a darling on the HotCopper forum Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) lifted 2.8% today after yesterday listing 36,873 fully paid ordinary securities on the Australian Securities Exchange. LTR closed out Christmas Eve today at 55cps.
Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) was up 6% through today after locking in FDA approval for its new RECELL GO mini disposable cartridge.
IGO Limited (ASX:IGO) was another winner for the day, with the dual-nickel and lithium miner bouncing back 2.4% after this week admitting it was struggling to sell the lithium hydroxide amid the material’s slowdown.
Another lithium producer, Arcadium Lithium (ASX:LTM), was up 7% after shareholders approved the Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) deal just before Christmas.
Losers
While Acardium may have jumped on the approval, Rio Tinto was among the losers today, down 0.8% alongside BHP (ASX:BHP), which was down 0.4%.
Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) also dipped on Christmas Eve, losing 3.2%, after putting a bow on its $1.5 billion all-scrip deal; it will be picking up Fission Uranium after getting Canadian-sided approval through this week.
All those drops paled alongside gold miner St Barbara (ASX:SBM) though, which closed Christmas Eve down 34.4% after its subsidiary Simberi Gold was slapped with a $210 million tax bill from Papua New Guinea that rocks its viability.
News Corp (ASX:NWS) also lost ground after agreeing to sell Foxtel and closed 1.1% down.
Two-day Christmas shutdown
Also remember HotCopper readers, we – and the local bourse as a whole – won’t be with you tomorrow or Thursday as we celebrate Christmas and recover on Boxing Day. The next time Oz shares can be traded is Friday.
When we get to Friday, December 27, things will operate as per usual; 10am AEDT for open and back to 4pm AEDT for close (rather than the early shut today).
So, have a very Merry Christmas and we’ll see you all on the other side!
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