Australian shares are up this afternoon, 11.40 points or 0.14% to 8,222.70, after a relatively flat session of trade saw an uptick at day's end.
The winners were Zip (ASX:ZIP) Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP, OTC:ZIZTF) and Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) Ltd, up 5.02% and 4.38% respectively.
The index has lost 0.86% for the last five days but sits 2.06% below its 52-week high.
From a sector perspective, Information Technology was riding high after lunch, up 1.83%, while Consumer Discretionary was also doing well (1.18%) along with Materials (0.83%).
At the other end of proceedings were Utilities and Energy, down 0.69% and 0.46% respectively, with Real Estate having a bumpy landing at close of play, sinking by 0.66%.
Key data to look for
Moomoo Australia analyst Michael McCarthy thinks there will be some key numbers in the news for investors this week.
“Trading in shares this week will be driven by data releases as the busiest week of the US corporate reporting season coincides with a flood of month-end data. European and US stocks limped into the weekend on Friday after a week of contained trading,” he said.
“Volatility is likely to rise over the week as numbers drop and investors re-position ahead of next week’s major events.
“Out of the S&P 500 companies, 278 will report quarterly earnings this week, including a number of the 'magnificent 7' (nifty fifty anyone?). Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nvidia are all forecast to show slowing earnings growth, from last year’s 35% collectively to around 20% this year.
“While still well above average, the mathematical inevitability of further slowing may have investors wondering if the long period of stunning outperformance from these tech leaders is coming to an end.
“Against this backdrop, important inflation reads in the US and Australia could fuel speculation about the US Federal Reserve’s and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s intentions at monthly meetings next week.
“The interest rate decisions sandwich the US election, giving analysts and traders plenty to work with next week. Futures indicate, and the calendar suggests, a quiet start to Asia Pacific trading today ahead of the volatility to come.”
HCF misled policyholders; Federal Court
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has moved to seek penalties against health insurer HCF following a Federal Court finding that the company’s life insurance policies included misleading terms.
The regulator argued that HCF Life’s 'Recover' range of products used the term "pre-existing condition" in a way that could deny coverage to policyholders unaware of an undisclosed condition.
The court ruled that the phrasing misrepresented policyholders’ rights, potentially excluding coverage for conditions undiagnosed at the time of signing.
While Federal Court Justice Ian Jackman did not find the terms unfair, as ASIC argued, he acknowledged that ordinary readers of the policy would likely be unaware of their rights under section 47 of the Insurance Contracts Act, which restricts exclusions for undisclosed conditions unknown at the policy’s inception.
ASIC has stated it will seek penalties against HCF for misleading conduct in relation to these terms.
Small cap movers
A big mover on the small cap front today was Asian Battery Minerals PLC, which was as much as 156% higher than the previous close to $0.11 on the back of strong copper and nickel results from Mongolia.
Among other movers were Ioneer Ltd (ASX:INR, OTC:GSCCF, NASDAQ:IONR), which was as much as 16.37% higher intra-day to $0.09, Astral Resources NL (ASX:AAR) increased by up to 13.8% to $0.165, Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, NASDAQ:NVA) was as much as 12.96% up to $0.305, International Graphite Ltd (ASX:IG6) up to 12.28% higher to $0.064, Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:COB, OTC:CBBHF) was as much as 11.24% higher to $0.099 and Aldoro Resources Ltd (ASX:ARN), which was up 9.76% to $0.09.
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