Australian shares rose for a third consecutive day on Thursday, as NAB earnings and tech stocks drove the market higher.
Reporting season continued to influence stock moves. The benchmark ASX 200 gained 0.3 per cent, to 7,288, while the broader All Ordinaries also closed about 0.3 per cent higher, at 7,595.
The Australian dollar was down 0.1 per cent, buying 71.72 US cents.
Despite the positive the trading session, more sectors closed lower than higher. The tech sector was the biggest winner on the ASX 200, followed by mining.
The best-performing stock was Bapcor (+10.3pc), but its gains followed a bad day of trading for the company on Wednesday.
Megaport also did well, up 7.7 per cent, followed by Paladin Energy, which gained 6.7pc, and Nanosonics added 4.9 per cent.
AMP stocks jumped 4.9 per cent after the company released its results.
The company, which has tried to turn itself around after a series of scandals, reported a net loss of $252 million loss for 2021.
AMP, a 172-year-old firm, posted net cash outflows of $5.2 billion, down from $7.8 billion a year earlier.
The financial services group confirmed potential buyers were asking about AMP Capital.
It said AMP Capital's private market business would be called Collimate Capital after the demerger, which was on track to be completed in the first half of this year.
AMP Capital posted an annual net profit of $154 million. It has assets of $177.8 billion under management.
Its underlying profit was $356 million, up from $233 million a year earlier.
National Australia Bank (NAB) stocks rose 4.3 per cent after the nation's second-biggest bank reported a 9.1 per cent rise in first-quarter cash profit thanks to growth in home and business lending.
NAB posted cash earnings of $1.8 billion for the quarter to December, compared with $1.65 billion a year earlier. The result also beat Morgan Stanley's estimate of about $1.6 billion.
Record-low interest rates and fierce competition in the home loan market are cutting margins for Australian lenders, which are also taking a hit from borrowers switching to fixed-rate mortgages.
The bank said net interest margin, a key measure of profitability, fell 5 basis points to 1.64 per cent in the quarter.
Chief executive Ross McEwan said while disruptions to supply chains and labour markets from the Omicron COVID-19 variant had created uncertainty, the bank was optimistic about the outlook for Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, shares of the exchange operator ASX fell 3.8 per cent on the news that chief executive Dominic Stevens is set to retire. He will stay in the job until a replacement is found.
The company reported a 3.5 per cent rise in half-year net profit to $250.3 million, a 6.6 per cent increase in operating revenue, and 6 per cent rise in half-year earnings EBITA $338.4 million.
However, it also flagged higher costs. The ASX is in the process of upgrading its systems after a market crash in November 2020.
Its interim dividend will be $1.16 cents per share, up 3.5 per cent.
AGL Energy stocks lost 3.2 per cent, after gaining in early trading.
The company announced that it had slashed its dividend by nearly a third and reported a 41 per cent drop in half-year profit.
Its update to the ASX also included the announcement that it would bring forward the closure of two of Australia's largest coal power plants.
Bayswater power station in the New South Wales Hunter Valley will close five years early, in 2030, and Loy Yang A in Victoria's Latrobe Valley could close as soon as 2040, instead of 2048.
AGL plans to become a net-zero business by 2040, and will split itself into a bulk power generator and a carbon-neutral energy retailer by June.
It said the split would cost between $220 million and $260 million.
The energy conglomerate also raised the lower end of its fiscal 2022 profit forecast, narrowing the range to between $260 million and $340 million, from $220 million to $340 million previously.
"AGL Energy is well positioned to benefit from improving wholesale electricity prices seen over the past six months and, if [prices are] sustained, we expect to see this reflected in future earnings beyond FY22," chief executive Graeme Hunt said.
The company's underlying profit was $194 million for the six months to the end of December, compared with $328 million a year ago. The figure beat a Morgan Stanley estimate of $169 million.
It will deliver an interim dividend of 16 cents per share, compared with 41 cents a year ago.
Other stocks leading the declines were Cimic Group (-6.8pc), Adbri Limited (-3.6pc) and Mirvac Group (-2.7pc).
Wall Street investors buy up tech
In New York, the Nasdaq Composite added 2.1 per cent, to 14,448.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.9 per cent higher, at 35,768 points, while the S&P 500 gained 1.5 per cent, to 4,586.77.
Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield slipped from multi-year highs hit in the previous session, helping steady sentiment across global markets and boosting demand for growth stocks.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms jumped about 5 per cent and was on track to end four sessions of deep declines that saw it lose almost a third of its value.
Microsoft added 1.9 per cent, Etsy gained 3.5 per cent, Google rose 1.4 per cent, and Apple was up by about 0.8 per cent.
"The bond market basically is saying there's a cap or a limit to how much the Fed is likely to raise rates, and that is very positive for stocks in general, and especially for growth stocks [that] tend to be valued higher," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder.
Hit by worries about rising interest, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen almost 8 per cent so far this year, after gaining nearly 21 per cent in 2021.
Investors are awaiting consumer prices data on Thursday for new clues on the Federal Reserve's plans to hike interest rates.
An unexpectedly strong jobs report last week raised concerns of a more aggressive move by the US central bank.
US inflation is forecast at a four-decade high of 7.3 per cent.
Investors were also buoyed by comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve president Raphael Bostic, who said the US economy might be nearing a slower pace of inflation. However, he added, he was still leaning towards a slightly faster pace of interest rate increases this year.
Commodities
On oil markets, West Texas crude was flat, at $US89.47.
Brent was also little changed, at $US91.56 per barrel, in late afternoon trading.
Spot gold was also flat, selling for $US1,835.00 per ounce.
Iron ore fell $3.20, or 2.1 per cent, overnight to hit $146.75 per tonne.
In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 1.7 per cent, Britain's FTSE climbed 1 per cent, while Germany’s DAX rose 1.5 per cent.
ABC News/Reuters
