The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) closed higher today (15 May) following the release of data showing stronger-than-expected employment in April.
The S&P/ASX200 lifted 17.9 points, or 0.22%, to 8,297.5 points by the closing bell.
The April unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1% for the 14th consecutive month, while the number of jobs increased by 89,000 – well above market expectations of a 22,500 increase.
ANZ Economist Aaron Luk says the bank expects the increase to be “more noise than signal”, with more volatility than usual in employment growth through 2025 so far.
“Hours worked – a more stable indicator of economic activity – was flat despite strong growth in employment,” he notes.
“We expect the RBA to look through the strong monthly increase in employment, as it did for the surprising drop in February employment. In the April board minutes it cited volatility as the cause of that drop.”
Over the last five days, the S&P/ASX200 has gained 1.29% and is currently 3.69% off its 52-week high.
Seven of the 11 sectors made headway, however energy tumbled 1.12%, materials fell 0.93% and industrials edged back 0.21%.
Alcoa (ASX:AAI) remained in the top five, advancing 3.3% to $45.44, while mining services firm NRW Holdings (ASX:NWH) fell 8.28% to $2.66 and Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) slid 5.14% to $0.83.
NRW lost ground after announcing it may have to book a $113 million impairment following legislative moves by the South Australian Government that puts into question the company’s secured interest in the Whyalla Port.
Among the small caps, Peak Rare Earths (ASX:PEK) rallied 170.83% to $0.33 after revealing a subsidiary of major shareholder Shenghe Resources (SSE:600392.SS) tabled a takeover offer of $0.359 cash per share, marking a 199% premium to Peak’s closing share price of $0.12 on 9 May.
Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT), meanwhile, climbed 20% to $0.006 on no news.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX
