By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 18.8 points or 0.3% to 7,052.3 after the first hour of Monday’s trade, extending gains for the fifth consecutive week as investors remained optimistic following last week’s inflation data which indicated a slight cooling of price pressures.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.3% lower.
Among stocks, gains were led by the rate-sensitive Information Technology sector, up 1.8% as Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) gained 1.9%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) lifted 1.9%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) added 3.5%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) gained 2.3% and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) lifted 2.7%.
Real estate was up 1.4% with Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) lifting 2.4%, Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) up 1.7%, Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) adding 1.8% and Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX:SGP) up 0.9%.
Telecommunication Services gained 0.9% overall, as Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) lifted 1.4%, Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:DHG) gained 2%, Seek Ltd (ASX:SEK) lifted 2.8% and Telstra Corporation Ltd. (ASX:TLS) added 0.8%.
Meantime, JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) fell 1.1% after reporting a 7.7% increase its net profits for the 12 months through June, while GPT Group (ASX:GPT) added 4.9% despite half-year profits declining.
Ahead in the week, market participants will be focusing on July’s unemployment rate figures, while the RBA’s latest meeting minutes will also be closely monitored. In New Zealand, the RBNZ is expected to raise its official cash rate by 50bps.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.413% while United States 10-Year yields were at 2.84%.