The S&P/ASX200 index gained 1.05% today on lower than normal volume, with 9 of 11 sectors higher.
Information Technology led the winners, gaining 3.55% before market close, while Utilities fell the hardest, shedding 0.62%.
Imagion Biosystems Ltd (ASX:IBX) made the biggest gain, climbing 46.51% after publishing first-in-human studies interim data for its MagSense® HER2 breast cancer imaging agent.
Miners and energy companies also enjoyed upward momentum, with Latin Resources Ltd (ASX:LRS) climbing 4%, 88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTC:EEENF) rising 5%, Poseidon Nickel Ltd (ASX:POS, OTC:PSDNF) netting a 9.2% increase and Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) nabbing a 3.94% rise in share price.
Unemployment hits a low
In good news for the Australian job market, unemployment has fallen to an equal record low of 4%, a number not seen since 2008 after the global financial crisis shook the economy.
In a rare showing for the Australian economy, women are winners this time around, with work participation rates rising by 0.2% to a record high of 62.4%.
Hours worked also strongly rebounded, rising 8.9% and recovering from an Omicron-borne wave of absences. Underemployment also fell by 6.6%, with the proportion of Australians in or looking for work rising to 66.4%.
KPMG's chief economist Brendan Rynne commented that unemployment gains were all the more impressive due to a high participation level in the workforce.
"This super-low unemployment rate has occurred when participation in the labour force is at all-time highs – meaning the unemployment rate hasn't just dropped due to workers withdrawing from the labour market," Rynne said.
Australia’s unemployment rate was lower before the 1970s – hovering around 2% – but has not fallen so low since, partially due to a change in fiscal policy that championed the idea of maintaining an ‘ideal’ unemployment rate at about 5% in order to keep wages and inflation low.
Unfortunately, inflation has not shown the same level of vulnerability to the employment rate as wages have, rising in what some analysts are calling a ‘tsunami’ to 3.5% with no signs of falling.
In better news for Australian workers, stagnant wages have begun to move, rising some 0.7% in the final three months of 2021 and up 2.3% on the previous December quarter, according to the ABS.
This trend is predicted to continue according to ANZ’s senior economists, Catherine Birch and Adelaide Timbrell, aided by “sharply lower underemployment as well as unemployment, and as workers switch jobs and take advantage of greater bargaining power.
“The rise in inflation expectations is another signal for stronger wage growth in the near term,” they said.
Only time will tell if wage increases can keep Australian households afloat in a rising wave of inflation.
Short sellers set sights on oil
After a disastrous nickel short sell by Chinese company Tsingshan Holding Group closed the London Metal Exchange and prompted daily price limits, short sellers have turned their attention to oil stocks.
Short interest in energy stocks climbed to 3.7% by the end of February, in contrast to a 2.19% increase for the overall US S&P 500 index since the end of 2021.
Short bets rose in step with climbing oil futures, with the US crude oil benchmark jumping a cumulative 39.4% over December, January and February before soaring to a 14-year high of US$130 a barrel last week.
The price of oil fell back 20% this week from its March 8 highs as negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and lockdowns in China introduced yet more uncertainty to the industry.
In response, the US S&P500 energy sector dropped more than 6%, but has remained up 28% for the year to date.
At this point, it’s anyone’s guess which direction the oil price will head in next.
On the small cap front
- Jindalee Resources Ltd was 17.80% higher
- Arrow Minerals Ltd was 14.29% higher
- Emyria Ltd was 10.71% higher
- Poseidon Nickel Ltd was 9.20% higher
- Legend Mining Ltd was 7.14% higher
- Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals Ltd was 7.02% higher
- First Graphene Ltd was 6.06% higher
- FYI Resources Ltd was 6.00% higher
- Sunstone Metals Ltd was 5.56% higher
- GTI Resources Ltd was 4.76% higher
- Critical Resources Ltd was 4.55% higher
- Amplia Therapeutics Ltd was 3.57% higher
- Aldoro Resources Ltd was 3.08% higher
- Antilles Gold Ltd was 2.70% higher