The ASX kicked off the week with a morning of gains, led by the materials sector.
Miners rallied on strong iron ore pricing, with Fortescue, BHP and Champion Iron leading the pack before noon.
But it was a mixed bag on Wall Street over the weekend — major indices tried to claw back ground after an early selloff on Friday morning.
The Dow and the Russell recorded slight gains, but the Nasdaq and the S&P finished down less than 0.2%.
In commodity news, oil moved into the red after export coalition OPEC Plus reaffirmed its two million barrel-a-day output cut and China starts to ease Covid restrictions.
Gold performed in line with US indices, spending the session playing catchup as it worked to reverse early falls. The precious metal finished down 0.3% to US$1,811 an ounce.
Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar is buying 68 US cents and 55 British Pence.
Checking in with our top stories now, Warrego Energy says a 28-cent-per-share takeover bid from Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting is better than the 25-cent deal from rival suitor Beach Energy.
Beach has five days to match the offer if it wants to outbid the WA mining magnate.
In other news, Metcash has boosted its dividend thanks to better-than-expected half-year earnings.
The brand behind IGA, Foodland and Mitre 10 will dish out 11.5 cents per share after increasing underlying earnings by more than 10%.
On the small cap front, Posiedon Nickel has kicked off a $3 million share purchase plan after closing the books on a $6 million placement.
And Hawsons Iron is also making waves — it’s up nearly 24% after announcing 18 potential offtakers are eyeing its Supergrade concentrate.