By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 finished Monday’s session just 3.3 points or 0.1% higher at 7,148.9, slightly extending last week’s gain of 1% as higher iron ore prices boosted the Materials sector.
Among stocks, heavyweight miners were the most improved as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 1.1%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 1.4%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lifted 2.8%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) increased 2.8%, while Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) and Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) fell 1.4% and 1.5% respectively.
Information Technology finished 0.4% higher with Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) up 1.8%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) gaining 3.9%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) up 1.1% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) lifting 5.6% while Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) lost 2.4% and Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) shed 4.4%. Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA) also surged 14.5% after forecasting record profit for FY2022.
Financials fell 0.5% collectively, with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) down 0.8%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) slipping 0.8%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) down 0.1%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) shedding 0.7% and National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) down 0.9%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.322% while United States 10-Year rates were at 2.835%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.4% to 11,316.