ASX rises as Wall Street gets inflation boost; Sigma slumps

Interest-rate sensitive tech stocks and real estate investment trusts boosted the Australian sharemarket on Thursday morning, tracking the gains of Wall Street where US stocks climbed following a surprisingly encouraging update on inflation.

The S&P/ASX 200 was up 52.9 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 7768.4 about 10.25am, with 10 out of 11 sectors rising. Miners, down 0.03 per cent, slid into the red after index heavyweight BHP slid 0.48 per cent.

Tech stocks recorded the greatest advances, lifting 2.25 per cent, after all tech mega-caps climbed and were firmly among the top 10 performers.

James Hardie was the best performing large-cap stock after its shares advanced 3.62 per cent, followed by Seek (up 3.02 per cent), WiseTech (up 3.01 per cent) and XERO (up 2.79 per cent).

On the flipside, ASX Ltd tumbled 8.54 per cent after forecasting its total expenses in fiscal 2024 would rise 15 per cent, and between 6 and 9 per cent in FY25.

Lynas Rare Earths fell 2.29 per cent, Medibank declined 1.48 per cent and Meridian Energy was down 1.33 per cent.

Sigma’s shares have shed 9.4 per cent after the consumer and competition watchdog raised concerns its $8.8 billion merger with Chemist Warehouse could substantially lessen competition and pharmacies currently supplied by Sigma could shut down.

Meanwhile, Booktopia has slid into a trading halt, hinting that it has secured additional funding. The online bookseller has been in dire straits lately after rounds of job cuts, the sudden departure of its chief executive, and a share price that has lost more than 98 per cent of its value since listing in December 2020.

In the United States, the S&P 500 added 0.9 per cent to its all-time high set a day earlier. The Nasdaq composite also built on its own record and jumped 1.5 per cent, while the Dow Jones lagged the market with a dip of 0.1 per cent.