Proactive’s Tylah Tully gives a market wrap for January 29.
The ASX200 closed 0.56% higher at 8,447 points, marking a new 20-day high. Over the past five days, the index has remained largely unchanged and is currently 0.79% below its 52-week high.
The top performer of the day was The Star Entertainment Group, which increased 13% to $0.13 per share. The rise followed an announcement that its subsidiary, Star Entertainment Sydney Properties, plans to divest The Star Sydney Event Centre and other assets for $60 million.
Premier Investments saw the biggest decline, falling 20% or $5.90 to $22.67 per share. The drop followed the company’s shares trading ex-distribution as part of the merger between its Apparel Brands business and Myer Holdings.
Sector performance was mostly positive with 10 sectors closing higher. Utilities led gains, rising 2.06%, followed by Information Technology, which was up 1.81%. The Materials sector was the only one in negative territory, slipping 0.1%.
In economic news, inflation fell to 2.4% annually, with underlying inflation at 3.2%, below forecasts. Analysts now predict an 80% chance of an RBA rate cut next month.
Among small caps, Yandal Resources Ltd reached $0.155, an increase of 14.81% on the previous close, Pantoro Ltd climbed 10% to a daily high of $0.11 and Constellation Resources Ltd was 10% higher than the previous close at $0.22.
Other increases were registered by Ora Banda Mining Ltd, which was 9.59% higher to $0.80, Kali Metals Ltd lifted 9.09% to a daily high of $0.12, International Graphite Ltd reached $0.069, an increase of 7.82%, Peninsula Energy Ltd climbed 7.55% to $1.425, Astral Resources NL was as much as 7.14% higher to $0.15, Sovereign Metals Ltd increased 6.62% to $0.805 and Alkane Resources Ltd hit a daily high of $0.565, a rise of 6.6%.