The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) closed up Thursday (15 August) with the S&P/ASX 200 climbing 14.8 points, or 0.19%, to 7,865.50 points.
Just six of the 11 sectors finished the day in positive territory, led by telecommunications services with a daily gain of 1.8%. Materials slipped 1.2%, while the energy sector edged back 0.6%.
The Australian Volatility Index dropped 0.41 points, or 3.22%, to 12.28 in line with the improved market sentiment.
The index has retreated 11.59% for the last five days, but has gained 16.17% over the last year to date.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX (A-VIX) is a real-time volatility index that provides investors, financial media, researchers and economists an insight into investor sentiment and expected levels of market volatility.
The index tracks S&P/ASX 200 index option prices as a means of monitoring anticipated levels of near-term volatility in the Australian equity market.
Mining contractor NRW Holdings (ASX:NRW) was the biggest mover after reporting another record result for the 2024 financial year, which saw shares close up 9.7%.
Revenue grew 9.2% year-over-year to $2.9 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 15.9% to $334.8 million compared to the prior financial year.
Normalised earnings per share were up 17.7% to $0.273 per share. NRW declared a fully franked final dividend of $0.09 per share, taking the total FY24 dividend to $0.155 per share – an 11% hike over FY23.
NRW says the mining segment has over 90% of its expected revenue for the forthcoming financial year secured.
Work in hand currently totals $3.5 billion and there are current active tenders amounting to around $3.5 billion.
Coal producers Stanmore Resources (ASX:SMR) and Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) were among the bottom performers, sliding 6.2% and 4.9% respectively.
The declines come after coking coal prices slumped to their lowest levels in more than a year, driven by a slowdown in demand coupled with continued overproduction and weak Chinese sales.
Over the last five days, the S&P/ASX 200 index has gained 2.39% and is currently 3.48% off its 52-week high.
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: NRW Holdings
