Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
Australian retail sales fell 0.4% in March, a complete turnaround after February’s point-2 per cent rise.
The latest figures from the ABS may bring a sigh of relief to those concerned by last week’s higher-than-expected inflation read of 3.6%, along with the US quarterly PCE inflation read of 3.7%.
The ASX200 is trading up around a quarter of a per cent.
The Materials sector is leading intraday gains, up around point six of a per cent. Industrials has been the worst performer down around half a per cent.
New Zealand-based travel management company Serko (ASX:SKO) is the market winner so far today, up about 20% on news its renewed its partnership with Booking.com, signing a five-year contract.
Serko’s CEO and co-founder Darrin Grafton said the renewal decision would provide a ‘strong foundation for future global growth and scale’.
SKO has been trading at $3.43.
Lithium Universe (ASX:LU7) closed the March quarter appointing John Slabowlewski as its new Chief Financial Officer.
The company also initiated metallurgical testing on various sources of spodumene as it progresses plans for a lithium production hub in Quebec to address a conversion capacity gap in the US.
LU7 has been trading at 3.3 cents.
And, long-time copper miner Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) is down 3 per cent after announcing a US$4 million deal to expand to its Chilean copper project and the Costa Fuego Project.
The company has secured an option to acquire the Domeyko cluster, in an historic copper-gold mining centre, reflecting the largest land consolidation for Hot Chili in 5 years. The site is within 30 kilometres of the company’s planned processing hub.
HCH has been trading at $1.26.
