AU Morning Wrap: ASX up 1%, tech shares jumped 2.7%

Wall Street Summary
US stocks surged as investors welcomed the July consumer price index as a sign inflation may finally have peaked. The odds on a 75 basis points rate increase next month fell after the report showed consumer prices levelled off last month.

The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ soared 88 points or 2.13 per cent to its highest level since May. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ rallied 535 points or 1.63 per cent. The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ gained 361 points or 2.89 per cent as investors favoured growth stocks over value sectors.

AU Market Watch
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is on track to jump higher at the open after inflation data helped US stocks hit their highest level since May. ASX futures are up by 1%, suggesting the benchmark index should handily recover ground lost in yesterdays' 0.5% decline. The ASX 200 is 0.3% lower so far this week.

Australian shares opened higher this morning. The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ gained 1.07 per cent to 7067.5 as of 10:21 am.

Stocks to Watch
$AMP Ltd (AMP.AU)$: AMP will return $1.1 billion in capital to shareholders in the coming years after a run of divestments as the company unveiled a gain in net profit for the six months to the end of June. Net profit after tax on a statutory basis increased threefold to $481 million from $146 million in the same period a year ago, "predominately assisted by the gain on sale of the infrastructure debt platform," the company said.

$Mirvac Group (MGR.AU)$: Revenue for property company Mirvac Group grew by a fifth to $2.8 billion in the 2022 financial year, while profits attributable to security holders inched 1 per cent higher to $906 million.

$GQG Partners Inc (GQG.AU)$: GQG Partners has reported net inflows of $US6.3 billion for the six months to June, and ended the period with $US86.7 billion in funds under management. This was up 2.3 per cent on the pervious period.

$Telstra Group Ltd (TLS.AU)$: Telstra has generated nearly 5 per cent less in profit for the 2022 financial year compared to the prior period, reflecting a drop in revenue and total income for the telecom giant. Profits of $1.8 billion marked a 4.6 decline from the $1.9 billion earned in the 2021 financial year, as revenue eased 1.3 per cent lower to $21.3 billion and total income fell 4.7 per cent to just north of $22 billion.

$QBE Insurance Group Ltd (QBE.AU)$: QBE said its net profit after tax for the six months ended June was $US151 million ($213.3 million).An interim dividend of 9¢ a share will be paid on September 23, it said in a filing.

Dividends paid: $Centuria Capital Group (CNI.AU)$, $KKR Credit Income Fund (KKC.AU)$, $Newmark Property REIT (NPR.AU)$

Commodities
• Iron ore futures fell -0.01% to US$109.3 a tonne. Chinese steel mill margins returned to positive territory in August, coinciding with the bounce in iron ore prices.
• Oil prices whipsawed after the resumption of Russian oil flows to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline, an acceleration in US oil production to levels not seen since April 2020 and EIA crude oil inventory posting a larger-than-expected build of 5.4m.
• Gold briefly rallied to session highs of US$1,807 as traders expect the Fed to begin pivoting from its aggressive rate hike stance. The gains faded after investors began piling back into risk assets.

Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR