The ASX is off to a positive start on Monday morning.

The ASX is off to a positive start on Monday morning.Credit:Tamara Voninski

The lifters: Yancoal gained 7.26 per cent and Whitehaven Coal jumped 6.52 per cent,following Russia’s closure over the weekend of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,one of Europe’s major gas supplies.

Other energy stocks rose,with market heavyweight BHP gaining 3.18 per cent;Woodside Energy up 4.25 per cent;and Fortescue rallying 2.63 per cent despite trading ex-dividend for the first time since February.

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The laggards: Qantas lost 3.22 per cent as ground handlersannounce strike action for this month;Meridian Energy slipped down 3.68 per cent;and Lottery Corporation dropped 1.79 per cent.

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The lowdown:Despite expectations Australia’s sharemarket would open lower on Monday,today was the first time the market lifted in four days,coming back from last week’s$45 billion shed following US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech.

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Banks and tech companies felt the hit today ahead of Tuesday’s likely rate rise,with the tech sector down 0.84 per cent and financial sector shedding 0.4 per cent,with all big four banks in the red.

Despite this,Craig Sidney,senior investment advisor at Shaw and Partners,said today’s low trading volume - 20 per cent lower than usual - was not the result of rate rise expectations.

“The expectation is for 50 basis points increase - that’s probably not having too much impact on our market today,” he said. Today’s lighter trading volumes,he said,were due to the US market close tonight ahead of Labor Day.

“Reporting season’s just finished,so many institutions and fund managers are working out what to buy and sell in this market,” Sidney said.

It was the resource sectors that were today’s heavyweight lifters,as energy and materials stocks pushed the index into the green.

“Banks are under a bit of pressure,as well as heathcare and discretionary stocks both offsetting the strength from materials and energy,” he said.

US stocks gave up an early rally and closed lower on Friday,marking their third losing week in a row and extending Wall Street’s late-summer slump.

Major stock indexes initially climbed,broadly following the US government’s latest job market report,which showed employers slowed their hiring in August. The report put traders in a buying mood,stoking cautious optimism that the Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates as aggressively in its ongoing bid to tame inflation.

But the market reversed course by mid-afternoon,shedding all its gains. That left the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.1 per cent lower. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.3 per cent.

Tweet of the day:

Quote of the day:”Every single Dan Murphy’s store is hiring,” said Dan Murphy’s incoming managing director,Agi Pfeiffer-Smith. “Just come as you are and our commitment to every applicant is that we will give you a short interview on the spot.”

The comments come as Australian retailers gear up for a busy Christmas season amid nationwide staff shortages.

You may have missed:PointsBet and Zip Pay suffered losses,slipping 0.15 per cent and 4.05 per cent respectively,following Friday’s announcement that the companies would no longer be listed on the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark index.

With AP

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