What we learned, Thursday 19 February
Thanks for staying with our live news blog today. We’ll wrap our coverage there. Here were the top stories:
Coles admitted in court to strong-arming a supplier and threatening to pull products off shelves amid its “Down Down” campaign.
Aid agency Save the Children said the Australian children detained in Syrian camps are “desperate” to leave.
Formula One fans learned Victoria has lost the MotoGP to South Australia.
The unemployment rate held at 4.1% in January, beating expectations of a rise.
Anthony Albanese said “of course” there was a link between Pauline Hanson’s rhetoric and threats to a Sydney mosque.
A Sydney man has been charged over alleged death threats to a federal parliamentarian, while a Queanbeyan man will face court over allegedly posting threatening remarks about two federal MPs on social media.
And NSW’s Fair Trading warned a business is claiming false links to Bondi terror attack.
Updated
ASX200 hits new record high
Australia’s share market has spiked to a new high as commodity price strength buoyed miners and energy stocks, AAP reports.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 hit a new intraday record of 9,118.3 points on Thursday, before easing to close at 9,086.2, up 0.88% from Wednesday.
The heavyweight financials sector advanced 1.4%, with Commonwealth Bank shares hitting six-month highs before settling at $178.19, a 0.7% rise from yesterday. The other three big banks rose more than 2%.
Energy outperformed the broader market after oil prices spiked overnight on tensions between the US and Iran, and failed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Woodside and Santos share prices rose more than 4%.
Buy-now, pay-later provider and former market darling Zip lost about a third of its market value after reporting lower revenue than expected thanks to bad debts and profit margin pressures.
