Lithium,rare earths,and iron ore miners provided strong support for the Australian stock exchange on Monday,while an opportunistic takeover bid between funds managers grabbed attention and saw target Pendal jumping as much as 24 per cent during the day.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.3 per cent higher,up 19.9 points to 7513.7,just 75 points below January’s high of 7589.
“It’s really comforting to see that we are getting close to where the market was in January,before it fell,” senior client advisor at Shaw and Partners,Adam Dawes,said.
![Perpetual chairman Tony D’Aloisio chose his moment to pounce.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/0349555078cc3a1d168cfa4ed3fd64a7410b13f0)
Perpetual chairman Tony D’Aloisio chose his moment to pounce.Steven Siewert
Mr Dawes said Perpetual’s $2.4 billion bid for Pendal was one way to grow funds in-flows.
“Consolidation in the sector has been well overdue and that’s how these guys survive - they buy other businesses to keep things moving.”
The offer saw Pendal closing at an 11-week high of $5.29,while Perpetual ended the session at a 13-month low of $31.97,down 6.6 per cent.
Overall the financial sector closed lower with the big banks declining ahead of Tuesday’s Reserve Bank meeting,and a 3.2 per cent fall in Bank of Queensland.
However,Magellan Financial gained 9.4 per cent to its highest close in eight weeks at $16.79.
But it was the mining sector that underpinned Monday’s gains,especially lithium producers.
IGO gained 4 per cent,Pilbara Minerals gained 5.5 per cent,Allkem gained 7.3 per cent,and Liontown Resources gained 9 per cent. Iluka jumped to new highs of $12.50 after announcing it would spend up to $1.2 billion on a rare earth oxide refinery with help from a $1 billion government loan.
And Lynas hit a decade high of $11.59,pushing its market cap over $10 billion for the first time after a rival highlighted the “clear lack of (lithium) supply to meet the expected lift in demand” on an investor call.
Iron ore prices edged close to $US160 per tonne despite China’s manufacturing index falling below 50 points,indicating contraction. This saw gains in Fortescue,BHP and Mineral Resources.
A full lock-down of Chinese mega-city Shanghai dragged on oil prices late last week,but US crude firmed a little on Monday $US99.74 per barrel.
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