The ASX has closed at its highest level in 20 days, led by gains in the resources sector.
It followed news that rapid grocery and alcohol delivery company Milkrun had collapsed and would close by the end of the week, citing worsening economic and business conditions, while Latitude Financial rebuffed ransom demands after last month's cyber attack.
Look back on the day's financial news and insights from our specialist business reporters as they happened on our blog.
Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice.
Key events
Live updates
Here's how the market finished as of 4:15pm AEST
By Kate Ainsworth
- ASX 200 : +1.26% to 7,309 points
- All Ords: +1.24% to 7,504 points
- Australian dollar: +0.59% to 66.77 US cents
- Dow Jones: +0.3% to 33,586 points
- S&P 500: +0.1% to 4,109 points
- Spot gold: +0.5% at $US1,999.85/ounce
- Brent crude: +0.76% at $US84.82/barrel
- Iron ore: +0.3% to $US117.90 a tonne
- Bitcoin: +2.93% at $US29,979
ASX closes to finish at highest level in 20 days of trade
By Kate Ainsworth
There was no stopping the Australian share market today, finishing with an increase of 1.26% to 7,309.
It's the highest closing level the ASX has seen in 20 days.
All sectors finished the trading day in positive territory, with materials and academic and educational services up 2.01% and 1.47% respectively, leading the ASX's overall gains for the day.
The best performer of the day was Nickel Industries — although that's not too surprising, considering the company announced it would be issuing new senior unsecured notes earlier today.
Newcrest Energy was also one of the top performers, thanks to Newmont's revised takeover offer for the company.
The top five movers for Tuesday were:
- Nickel Industries +7.10%
- Sandfire Resources +6.52%
- Karoon Energy +6.17%
- Downer EDI +5.26%
- Newcrest Energy +5.09%
Meanwhile Imugene Ltd was far and away the biggest loser of the day, shedding 13.33% during today's trade.
The other four bottom performers for the day were:
- Polynovo -2.44%
- Silver Lake Resources -2.35%
- Fisher & Paykel Healthcare -2.12%
- InvoCare -1.71%
Star Entertainment Group also dropped in today's trade, finishing down -1.60%.
And that brings today's blog to a close — thanks for following along throughout the day.
We'll be back to do it all again tomorrow, but in the meantime you can keep up-to-date with other news on the ABC's website, by subscribing to our mobile alerts, and by watching News Channel or listening to local radio here.
Bitcoin value reaches 10-month high
By Kate Ainsworth
It's been a good day on the markets for major cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which pushed past the $US30,000 threshold for the first time in 10 months.
Bitcoin peaked at $30,438 in Asian trade, and has picked up about 6% in value since the beginning of the month, after increasing by 23% in March.
The surge can be attributed to investors increasing their bets that the US Federal Reserve is looking to end its monetary tightening measures soon, off the back of positive jobs data in the US on Friday.
But Bitcoin's value has dipped again this afternoon — it's now sitting at $US29,974 as of 4:05pm AEST.
Australia's credit card debt rises for fifth-straight month
By Kate Ainsworth
That's according to data released by the RBA today for February, which shows the total credit card bill attracting interest charges was up by $270 million to $17.75 billion, making it the highest level since August 2021.
Although credit card debts have increased, Australians spent slightly less overall on their debit and credit cards in February — dropping by $435 million (or 0.6%) to $72.7 billion.
Research director for RateCity.com.au, Sally Tindall, says the data shows more Australians are reaching for their credit cards to make ends meet with rising interest rates and living costs.
"Many families’ budgets have been pummelled from multiple fronts over the last few months as the cost of just about everything goes through the roof," she said.
“While the credit card can be a bridge to get through to the next pay day, it’s a band-aid solution that can quickly come unstuck."
Milkrun collapses, will close by the end of the week
By Kate Ainsworth
Rapid grocery and alcohol delivery service company Milkrun has collapsed, and will cease trading by the end of the week, citing deteriorating economic and capital market conditions.
Milkrun, founded by Dany Milham who also co-founded mattress and furniture company Koala, was established in September 2021, and serviced suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne, offering super-fast delivery for groceries and alcohol.
The company initially announced a structural change in February, but Mr Milham says the worsening business environment has forced the company to close.
In a statement, Milkrun said all roles in the fast delivery company would be made redundant — affecting more than 400 employees in Sydney and Melbourne.
"We’ve always been committed to doing things the right way, and winding down the business while we still have a sufficient cash balance enables us to ensure our people and suppliers are paid in full," the company said in a statement.
Milkrun also attracted significant investment from investment funds backed by Atlassian founders Mike Mike Cannon-Brooks and Scott Farquhar.
“I’m so proud of the amazing business we have built and of the growth we have achieved," Mr Milham said in a statement.
"We set out to change the face of grocery delivery in Australia, while staying true to our values, people and culture, and we did that thanks to the passion, dedication and hard work of so many of our people, who should be really proud of what we have achieved together.
Milkrun says its team members will receive their full statutory entitlements, ex gratia payments and ongoing support, including counselling and redeployment services.
Max Hazelton remembered for pioneering Australian aviation
By Kate Ainsworth
Pioneering Australian aviator Max Hazelton is being remembered by the industry after his death in Orange on Sunday, at the age of 95.
Mr Hazelton founded Hazelton Airlines, which grew to become a major regional operator that employed 270 people and carried 400,000 passengers a year to 23 destinations.
Hazelton Airlines was later rolled into Ansett Australia in 2001, before it was resurrected alongside Kendall Airlines to become Regional Express, or Rex Airlines.
You can read more about his life below:
Real estate turning point or dead cat bounce?
By Michael Janda
That's the question troubling home owners, prospective buyers and many economists tight now.
Last month's CoreLogic figures showed the first national rise in home prices for 11 months, with Sydney leading the gains after a couple of months on the rise.
Since then, the Reserve Bank opted to leave interest rates on hold in April, leading many economists to believe the cash rate has now peaked at 3.6%, with others paring back rate hike forecasts to a 3.85% peak, with one more rise next month.
The latest consumer sentiment survey from Westpac and the Melbourne Institute shows the massive effect that is having on sentiment about the housing market.
The index of house price expectations jumped 16.7% to 130 points and is now just below where it was a year ago, prior to the RBA's first rate rise this cycle.
Although, despite a bounce this month, the index of whether now is a good time to buy a home remains negative and 46 per cent below its most recent peak in November 2020.
Nonetheless, a lot of economists who were deeply pessimistic about the housing market are now preparing to soften their forecasts.
Ahead of the RBA's meeting, and based on CoreLogic's March numbers, CBA's head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said:
"Our forecast for a national decline in home prices from peak to trough of ~15% now looks a little pessimistic in light of the March result, but we retain it for now."
At the end of last week, AMP's deputy chief economist Diana Mousina said much the same thing:
"Our view that home prices would fall by 15-20% peak-to-trough (prices are down by 8.5% since their high) may be too pessimistic given the stabilisation in home prices over the past two months.
"But we still see some near-term downside for home prices as the full impact of RBA rate hikes is likely to see some additional selling and the increase in interest rates has led to a 27% decline in borrowing capacity."
And those who have fairly consistently been house price bulls, such as Stephen Koukoulas, are already calling a rebound.
However, Marcel Thieliant from Capital Economics is deeply sceptical.
"House prices rebounded in March but we aren't convinced that this marks the beginning of a sustained rebound," he wrote in a detailed note on his Australian housing forecasts.
"Affordability is set to become the most stretched since the early 90s and if the unemployment rate rises as rapidly as we anticipate, house prices will almost certainly start to fall again."
So how much further is he expecting home prices to drop?
"Our current forecast is that the next leg down in house prices will result in them falling by 7% from their March [2023] level, which would imply a 15% decline from their peak in 2022.
"That in turn would mean that the ratio of house prices to income would fall to levels last seen in 2014. Back then though, interest rates were around 2.5% whereas we expect the RBA to cut interest rates to only 3.1% by 2025.
"Likewise, our forecasts imply that the share of income required to pay the mortgage on a median-priced [home] will fall to around 35% by 2025, which would still be well above its long-term average of 30.5%. Accordingly, the risks are tilted towards even larger falls in house prices."
Mr Thieliant also urges caution for anyone thinking that the recovery in house prices will be strong and sustained.
"Regardless of whether the housing market has reached a bottom or not, it seems very likely that any rebound in prices will be subdued by historical standards," he added.
"The weakest rebound in house prices was the one from the 1995 downturn, with house prices only rising by 3.3% in the first year of the upswing. But with housing affordability as stretched as it is now, prices may rebound by even less from the current downturn.
"For what it's worth, we've pencilled in a subdued 2.5% rise in the first twelve months of the coming housing rebound."
Google fined $47.8 billion for unfair practices in South Korean app market
By Kate Ainsworth
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has fined Google 42.1 billion won ($47.8 billion) for unfair business practices that helped solidify its dominance in the Korean mobile gaming app market.
The KFTC said google bolstered its market dominance by blocking the release of mobile video games on OneStore, a local Korean app market launched in January 2016 by South Korea's three mobile carriers.
"Google analysed that the launch of a competitive and comprehensive app market, One Store, will have a major impact on its sales in South Korea," the FTC said.
The KFTC said Google asked game companies to exclusively release their content on Google Play, in return for having the content appear as "featured", along with other marketing benefits.
The data compiled by the FTC showed that Google was able to expand its presence to 90-95% in 2018, after having around 80-85% of the local app market before the deal in 2016.
During that same period, the FTC found One Store fell from having 15-20% of the local market to only 5-10%.
"The availability of the same game in multiple app stores promotes competition, including diversifying content and consumer benefits," the regulator said.
"By blocking the release of games on One Store, Google has hindered innovation and consumer benefits in the app market and mobile gaming sector."
The fine, along with a corrective order, will be imposed on Google, Google Korea and Google Asia Pacific.
NAB says business conditions showed 'ongoing resilience' in March
By Kate Ainsworth
NAB's monthly business survey was released a little earlier today, which showed business conditions dipped slightly by 2 points, down to +16 index points in March.
That is still well above the long-run average, while employment eased slightly, profitability saw a minor dip, and trading conditions overall were flat.
But put that altogether, and NAB's Chief Economist Alan Oster says it points to resilient business conditions.
"The survey suggests the economy is still holding up and indicates there has been some easing in inflation, although there is still a long way to go to bring inflation back down to the RBA’s target band and growth could be more volatile from there," he said.
Business confidence during March also rose, up by 3 points to -1 index point.
"Confidence appears to have stabilised, but it remains below average at -1 index point.” said Mr Oster.
"Confidence was particularly poor in retail and wholesale, likely reflecting that firms are concerned about how much longer consumer spending will hold up."
ASX remains high after Newmont bolsters Newcrest Mining takeover offer
By Kate Ainsworth
It's continued to be a positive day for the ASX, with shares up more than 1% as trading continues.
It's sitting higher largely due to Newcrest Mining, thanks to Newmont boosting its takeover offer by 16%, valuing the acquisition at a cool $29.4 billion.
That's also helped the gold price — earlier stocks hit a near-one year high.
Here's an updated snapshot of the top five movers:
- Paladin Energy +5.83%
- Newcrest Mining +4.77%
- Nickel Industries +4.44%
- Sandfire Resources +4.37%
- BrainChip Holdings +4.30%
As for the bottom movers, Silver Lake Resources has shed the most during trade so far:
- Silver Lake Resources -2.94%
- Imugene -1.67%
- Fisher & Paykel Healthcare -0.59%
- Iress -0.50%
- Auckland International Airport -0.49%
Here's how the market looks at 12:35pm AEST
By Kate Ainsworth
- ASX 200 : +1.34% to 7,315 points
- All Ords: +1.33% to 7,510 points
- Australian dollar: +0.47% to 66.68 US cents
- Dow Jones: +0.3% to 33,586 points
- S&P 500: +0.1% to 4,109 points
- Spot gold: +0.32% at $US1,996.31/ounce
- Brent crude: +0.58% at $US84.67/barrel
- Iron ore: +0.3% to $US117.90 a tonne
- Bitcoin: +3.94% at $US30,295
How much money did hackers demand from Latitude Financial?
By Kate Ainsworth
It's a fair question, and you'd have to imagine it would be a sizeable amount given hackers stole 14 million customer records from Latitude Financial.
But in confirming they won't pay the ransom demanded by the hackers, Latitude hasn't said just how much money the criminals wanted, and they won't be disclosing the amount as it's still subject to a criminal investigation.
So how much money are we talking?
Cybersecurity expert at the University of Queensland, Professor Ryan Ko wouldn't put a figure on it, but he has given some insight into how the hackers might work out how much money they will ask for when demanding a ransom payment:
"I have no way to guess, but usually there's a formula for roughly how much will be," he says.
"The ransomware gangs will take a look at your annual reports, and they will look at your cash flow, and once they know your cash flow is so-and-so amount, they will charge a little bit under the cash flow so that you can afford to pay.
"They know that you can and it will be a bit of a pain, but it wouldn't stop the business from running. So that's typically how they do it."
Korea's central bank keeps interest rates on hold
By Kate Ainsworth
Overseas, the Bank of Korea has left its interest rate unchanged for its second straight meeting at 3.5%.
The BoK (South Korea's RBA) has lifted its rates by 3% between August 2021 and January this year, but Capital Economics says it wouldn't be surprised if the central bank starts shifting its focus to rate cuts soon.
Why? Capital Economics cites the economy's poor outlook.
Korea's GDP fell 0.4% quarter over quarter in the final three months of 2022, and the data for the first three months of this year has also been weak — but notes that inflation is starting to come down.
"We expect another contraction in GDP this quarter, putting the economy in recession," Capital Economics notes.
"The outlook for the rest of the year is not much better, with a struggling labour market, weak global demand and problems in the housing sector all set to drag on prospects.
"Overall, we think the central bank will start cutting interest rates in August, and have three 0.25 percentage point rate cuts pencilled in for this year."
BHP's takeover of OZ Minerals one step closer after Vietnam regulators give approval
By Kate Ainsworth
BHP's share prices are on the up today, and it's largely thanks to Vietnam's Competition and Consumer Authority giving the green light to its proposed $9.5 billion takeover of copper miner OZ Minerals.
And it's come just in time — shareholders will be voting on whether to approve the deal on Thursday.
If they vote in favour of the deal, it will then be subjected to the courts signing it off.
But the way things are tracking, the deal would be come effective as early as next month.
Consumer confidence rebounds on RBA's interest rate pause
By Michael Janda
Showing just how sensitive Aussie borrowers are to rate moves, even a pause by the Reserve Bank has triggered a massive lift in confidence.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute monthly consumer sentiment index jumped 9.4 per cent in April although, at 85.8 points, it is still well below the 100-point mark where optimists equal pessimists.
Household confidence levels are also still more than 10 per cent below where they were in April last year, the month before the RBA's first rate hike.
"We still characterise consumer sentiment as weak and consistent with Westpac's view that consumer spending through 2023 and at least the first half of 2024 will be lacklustre," wrote Westpac's chief economist Bill Evans.
The effect of the RBA's decision to pause last week after 10 consecutive rate hikes was apparent in a 12.2 per cent surge in the confidence of those with a mortgage.
Rate hike expectations also eased considerably, with just over a third (34 per cent) of respondents expecting rates to rise by more than 1 percentage point over the next year, compared with 45 per cent the month before.
Optimism that rate rises might be nearing an end also led to dramatic improvements in the family finances, short-term economic outlook, time to buy a major household item, time to buy a dwelling and house price expectations sub-indices.
However, the index for time to buy a major household item remains below its weakest reading during the deep recession of the early 1990s, while the time to buy a dwelling index is still 46 per cent below its most recent peak in November 2020.
House price expectations are weighing on whether now is a good time to wade into the property market, with that index up 16.7 per cent to 130 points, just below where it was in April last year before interest rates started rising.
WA, Queensland, NSW and Victoria all recorded sharp increases in house price expectations, which are up 43 per cent since the recent low in November last year.
Bill Evans expects the nascent house price recovery may help persuade the RBA that one more rate hike is needed.
"Risks at this stage to the inflation outlook from a potential wealth effect through the housing recovery, which is being signalled in this survey; the boost to demand from the unexpected sharp lift in immigration and Australia's current dismal productivity record put more uncertainty around the board's current two-year plan to return inflation to the 2–3% target band," he noted.
"Westpac expects that a final 0.25% increase in the cash rate at the May Board meeting remains the best policy approach rather than awaiting even more information and risking even higher rates later in the cycle."
Here's how the market is shaping up at 10:45am AEST
By Kate Ainsworth
- ASX 200 : +1.21% to 7,253 points
- All Ords: +1.2% to 7,501 points
- Australian dollar: +0.26% to 66.53 US cents
- Dow Jones: +0.3% to 33,586 points
- S&P 500: +0.1% to 4,109 points
- Spot gold: +0.2% at $US1,993.70/ounce
- Brent crude: +0.44% at $US84.29/barrel
- Iron ore: +0.3% to $US117.90 a tonne
- Bitcoin: +2.3% at $US29,810
ASX jumps in early minutes of trade after boost in utilities and materials
By Kate Ainsworth
The ASX has wasted no time in jumping up this morning, opening at +1.21% in early trade to 7,306 points.
That positive bump can largely be attributed to the academic and educational services, utilities and materials sector, who are all up +0.7% or higher so far this morning.
Let's have a quick gander at the top five movers so far, which are mostly resources-led:
- Core Lithium +4.02%
- BrainChip Holdings +3.23%
- Fortescue Metals Group +3.11%
- Mineral Resources +2.81%
- Lovisa Holdings +2.65%
At the other end of the scale, it's a bit of a mixed bag of bottom movers, but there aren't very many of them so far:
- Imugene Ltd -1.67%
- Costa Group -1.16%
- Gold Road Resources -0.80%
- De Grey Mining -0.8%
- Atlas Arteria Group -0.39%
Latitude says its customer service centre is back online
By Kate Ainsworth
In some better news for Latitude Financial customers who have been affected by the cyber hack (or are still waiting to find out if they've been caught up in it), the company says their customer service centre is back online and operating at full capacity.
Customers had been reporting difficulties in accessing Latitude's services and finding out if they had been impacted by the data breach.
But in their latest ASX update, Latitude says they are focused on responding to customer enquiries "as a priority".
It also says customers can now access their accounts through the Latitude website and mobile app.
(And while I have you — if you're a Latitude customer, past or present, ABC News wants to hear from you. Follow this link below and tell us your story, and we may be in touch.)
Latitude Financial receives ransom demand by company behind cyber attack
By Kate Ainsworth
Latitude Financial has just told the ASX it's received a ransom demand by the criminal group behind last month's cyber attack.
Latitude says it will not pay the ransom, in line with the Australian government's position, saying it "will not reward criminal behaviour".
The company says it also doesn't believe that paying a ransom will result in the stolen data being returned or destroyed.
"Latitude will not pay a ransom to criminals. Based on the evidence and advice, there is simply no guarantee that doing so would result in any customer data being destroyed, and it would only encourage further extortion attempts on Australian and New Zealand businesses in the future," Latitude CEO Bob Belan said.
"Our priority remains on contacting every customer whose personal information was compromised and to support them through this process.
"In parallel, our teams have been focused on safely restoring our IT systems, bringing staffing levels back to full capacity, enhancing security protections and returning to normal operations.
"I apologise personally and sincerely for the distress that this cyber attack has caused and I hope that in time we are able to earn back the confidence of our consumers."
The decision not to pay the ransom means the details of 14 million Latitude customers, past and present, remains at risk of being released.
Latitude Financial says it is working with the AFP and the Australian Cyber Security Centre on its response, and says customers should remain vigilant and alert to potential scam attempts.
Latitude has not disclosed the specifics of the ransom demands, including the amount of money the hackers asked for.
Tobacco with excise of $28 million seized in joint ATO and NSW Police raid
By Kate Ainsworth
Police have raided an illegal tobacco plantation in the New South Wales central west, as part of a joint investigation with the Australian Taxation Office.
Last year officers were tipped off about an illegal crop grown on a property in Murga, which is around 55 kilometres east of Parkes.
Around 16 tonnes of tobacco have been seized and destroyed after a raid on the property last week.
The seizure is estimated to have a potential excise of $28 million.
"Evading excise duty on tobacco costs the community millions of dollars that could be spent on essential community services," ATO assistant commissioner Justin Clark said.
"Involvement in illicit tobacco is a serious offence, and the ATO is works with the community and our partner agencies including state and federal police to stamp out the illicit tobacco trade."
It has been illegal to grow tobacco in Australia for more than a decade, and those convicted of growing it can face up to 10 years in jail.
NSW Police say no arrests have been made.
