AU Morning Wrap: ASX Rallies 0.4%; Newcrest Up 7% on Newmont Bid

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · Apr 11, 2023 08:27

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• S&P 500 higher ahead of US inflation data and earnings season
• ASX rallies 0.4% at the open
• Stocks to watch: Newcrest, BHP, Arafura
- Moomoo News AU

AU Morning Wrap: ASX Rallies 0.4%; Newcrest Up 7% on Newmont Bid

Wall Street Summary

US markets eked out a small gain in the last two sessions, $Costco (COST.US)$ posts its lowest sales growth in almost three years, US first quarter earnings season will kick off this week and 87% of S&P 500 market cap will report by the week ending May 5, US commercial bank lending flags largest decline on record in the second half of March and all eyes on US inflation this Thursday.

The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ added 101 points, 0.3%, to 33586.52. The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ edged up 4 points, or 0.1%, to 4109.11, while the tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ slipped 4 points, or less than 0.1%, to 12084.36.

AU Market Watch

The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ rallied 0.41 per cent in the opening minutes of trade, boosted by gains across the materials sector.

$Newcrest Mining Ltd (NCM.AU)$ jumped 6.5 per cent to $30.12 after Newmont lobbed a revised takeover offer for the company.

$Evolution Mining Ltd (EVN.AU)$ edged 0.4 per cent higher to $3.39 after updating its guidance due to the weather event that occurred at its Ernest Henry operations on March 8.

$BHP Group Ltd (BHP.AU)$ rose 1.9 per cent to $45.91 after Vietnam's Competition and Consumer Authority approved its proposed acquisition of $Oz Minerals Ltd (OZL.AU)$.

Rare earths group $Arafura Rare Earths Ltd (ARU.AU)$ surged 9.4 per cent to 52.5¢ after signing an offtake agreement to supply neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) to European industrials group Siemens for up to 5 years.

$GQG Partners Inc (GQG.AU)$ added 1.8 per cent to $1.40 after its funds under management climbed in March.

Stocks to Watch

$GQG Partners Inc (GQG.AU)$: GQG Partners' funds under management jumped to $US94.5 billion in March, from $US90.8 billion at the end of February.

The firm reported net flows $US5 billion during the quarter.

However, GQG warned that flows may have benefited from first quarter seasonality and were potentially driven in part by its strong 2022 investment results.

$Newcrest Mining Ltd (NCM.AU)$: Newcrest Mining has received a revised conditional and non-binding takeover offer from Newmont Corporation.

Under the revised bid, Newcrest shareholders would be entitled to receive 0.40 Newmont shares for each Newcrest share held.

The revised proposal also permits Newcrest to pay a franked special dividend of up to $US1.10 per share on or around the implementation of the scheme of arrangement.

In aggregate, the revised proposal represents an implied value of $32.87 per share to Newcrest shareholders.

The implied consideration which would be received by Newcrest shareholders, when aggregated with the franked special dividend, represents an increase of 16 per cent to Newmont's initial proposal.

$BHP Group Ltd (BHP.AU)$: Vietnam's Competition and Consumer Authority has approved BHP's proposed acquisition of $Oz Minerals Ltd (OZL.AU)$.

The scheme remains subject to certain other conditions, including approval by OZ Minerals shareholders and the court.

$Arafura Rare Earths Ltd (ARU.AU)$: Northern Territory-based rare earths hopeful Arafura has signed an offtake agreement to supply neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) to European industrials group Siemens for up to five years.

Arafura has big ambitions to transform its Nolans Project into Australia's first vertically integrated rare earths project that includes an oxide mine and processing facility to rival ASX-listed giant Lynas Corp.

Trading Ex-div: $WAM Active Ltd (WAA.AU)$, $COSOL Ltd (COS.AU)$, $Seven Group Holdings Ltd (SVW.AU)$, $WAM Research Ltd (WAX.AU)$