Miner Oz Minerals has rejected a takeover bid from mining giant BHP, and the Australian share market ended higher after a slow start.
The market fell as much as 0.4 per cent in early trade, but managed to eke out a gain by the close.
Australia's All Ordinaries index increased 0.1 per cent, to 7,260, while the ASX 200 index put on 0.07 per cent, to 7,021.
Most sectors were in the red on the ASX 200, with real estate firms, consumer stocks and technology companies weighing on the market.
Four sectors rose with industrials, oil stocks and miners doing the best.
Oz Minerals (+35.3 per cent) was the best performer in the ASX 200, followed by lithium firm Lake Resources (+15.6 per cent) and biotech firm Imugene (+9.6 per cent).
Leading the losses were bank and insurer Suncorp (-4.6 per cent) and investment house Magellan Financial Group (-3.6 per cent).
Freight operator Aurizon (-3.5 per cent) said net profit for 2022 fell 15 per cent, to $513 million, because of lower freight volumes and fees, and the purchase of coal freight firm One Rail.
It cut its final dividend payout from 14.4 cents a share to 10.9 cents a share.
Mayne Pharma increased after gaining approval in the US for a hormonal contraceptive device.
In other news, Beach Energy signed a sale and purchase agreement with BP Singapore.
The Australian dollar rose 0.4 per cent, to 69.3 US cents, by 4:10pm AEST.
Spot gold was steady, at $US1773.71 an ounce, while Brent crude oil rose 0.7 per cent, to $US95.54 a barrel, in afternoon trade.
Oz Minerals rejects BHP takeover
Copper and nickel miner Oz Minerals rebuffed an $8.3 billion takeover offer from BHP, which is pursuing metals that are crucial to the development of electric vehicles.
Oz Minerals said the $25-a-share unsolicited, conditional takeover bid was "highly opportunistic" and significantly undervalued the company.
The company also said the offer came at a time when the LME copper price and OZ Minerals share price had fallen from their recent peaks in March and January.
OZ Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Cole said the BHP bid was not in the best interests of shareholders.
"We have a unique set of copper and nickel assets, all with strong long-term growth potential in quality locations," Mr Cole said.
"We are mining minerals that are in strong demand particularly for the global electrification and decarbonisation thematic and we have a long-life resource and reserve base.
"We do not consider the proposal from BHP sufficiently recognises these attributes."
Last week, BHP said it would increase spending on nickel exploration over the next two years to meet growing demand for the metal from manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries.
BHP has supply agreements with Tesla, Toyota and Ford through its Nickel West unit, and it is looking to buy more copper and nickel assets around the world.
Its chief executive, Mike Henry, said he was disappointed BHP's takeover offer was rejected.
"Our proposal represents compelling value and certainty for OZ Minerals shareholders in the face of a deteriorating external environment and increased [Oz Mineral] operational and growth-related funding challenges," he said.
"We are disappointed that the board of OZL has indicated that it is not willing to entertain our compelling offer or provide us with access to due diligence in relation to our proposal."
BHP used to own the West Musgrave nickel and copper project in Western Australia, which is now owned by Oz Minerals.
Oz Mineral shares jumped 35 per cent, to $25.59, while BHP shares rose 0.8 per cent, to $39.12.
Floods hit Suncorp profits
Bank and insurer Suncorp said its annual profit fell 34 per cent to $681 million because of natural disaster claims and stock market volatility hitting its investment portfolio.
Suncorp said the La Niña weather pattern across Australia and New Zealand had led to 35 separate weather events and about 130,000 natural hazard claims.
That saw Suncorp exceed its natural hazard allowance by $101 million, although it made significant recoveries under its reinsurance program.
Suncorp said it raised home insurance premiums to reflect higher natural hazard and reinsurance costs.
Home lending rose 9 per cent and the company saw record growth in insurance premiums over the second half of the year.
The company said it was pressing ahead with plans for ANZ to buy its banking arm, subject to regulatory approvals.
Any transaction is expected to take around 12 months.
Net profit at Suncorp Bank fell 12.2 per cent, to $368 million, with investors to get a fully franked dividend of 17 cents a share.
The Commonwealth Bank (+1.2 per cent) took a $445 million hit from one-off items, including software writedowns, but it made a pre-tax gain of $516 million from the sale of a 10 per cent stake in Chinese bank, the Bank of Hangzhou.
US jobs surge
On Friday, local time, Wall Street ended mixed after a strong US employment report that reignited fears about more interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve.
Official figures showed US employers hired far more workers than expected in July, with the unemployment rate falling from 3.6 per cent to 3.5 per cent, the equal-lowest level in 50 years.
Employers hired 528,000 people over the month, more than double the number predicted by economists.
The S&P 500 index fell 0.16 per cent, to 4,145, the Dow Jones index rose 0.2 per cent, to 32,804, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5 per cent, to 4,145.
ABC/Reuters
