Aussie shares rose 27.40 points or 0.33% to 8,312.60 today.
The winners on the day were Boss Energy Ltd and Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Corporation, up 6.82% and 6.26% respectively.
Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged but is currently 0.86% below its 52-week high.
Consumer Staples surged ahead in afternoon trade, 2.12% up on Friday, with Utilities (1.97%), Energy (1.51%) and Materials (1.40%) not far behind.
Information Technology and Health Care languished in the red, slipping 0.87% and 0.82% respectively.
The regulatory bodies were in full swing today, with Woolworths enduring a grilling about competition and pricing at the ACCC supermarket inquiry while ASIC sued the NAB for its handling of hundreds of vulnerable clients.
During the ACCC session, Woolworths was asked about the practice of land banking, where a company acquires land and holds on to it for long periods of time without plans for further development.
The ASIC claim involved alleged failures by the NAB to address financial hardship claims from 345 customers within the legally required timeframe.
Trump rally slows
"Investors have taken their foot off the gas as they await Trump’s incoming policies, with the expectation they'll push up inflation, reducing the likelihood of US interest rate cuts," writes moomoo Australia market analyst Jessica Amir.
"Also weighing on markets is impending reporting from the world’s most valuable company, Nvidia, which could move the market in either direction (as it accounts for 7.2% of the S&P 500) later this week; and Japan's interest rate decision, which could see a rate rise that would likely dent tech stocks.
"So, amid all that uncertainty, the US dollar pushed to its highest level since October 2023 and the US government bond yield rose to 4.4%. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%, the Nasdaq lost 2.2% while bank stocks pushed up and Palantir shares flew 11% higher after a large US pension fund increased its stake in the company.
"Australia’s market is expected to fall 0.2% at the open according to the futures market (as at 8.30am), suggesting our market won’t fall as much as the US, as Australian bond yields are lower and appear to be rolling over while pushing up.
"There are a couple of key things to note. Oil markets appear bearish with crude oil prices down 2.5% on Friday and 4.8% in five days. Further pressure could weigh on the oil price as markets brace for a 1 million barrel per day surplus in 2025 as the higher US dollar lowers demand and China buys less as it focuses on clean energy.
"In related policy news, president-elect Trump will ease rules for self-driving cars. This would directly benefit Elon Musk’s Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) but would also stoke electric vehicle demand in general.
"And here is a fun fact for you – it would widen Musk’s wealth. Musk is now worth US$313.3 billion. His wealth grew by US$6.8 billion on Friday after Tesla shares rose 3.1% to US$320.83.
"Also keep an eye on aluminium stocks such as South32 (OTC:SOUHY), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Alumina which could push sharply higher as China plans to scrap a tax sweetener that fueled exports out of the country. The news saw aluminium prices jumped 5.3% on Friday.
"Let’s end with a final thought. Remember November is traditionally the best month of the year for the share market with the S&P 500 going up between 2.2% to 3.8% on average in the month over the past 10 and 20 years.
"Australia’s market has generally only risen between 0.5% and 1.8% on average in November. But this month markets have had a cracker, and are already up 2.9% in the US and 1.5% in Australia."
Small cap increases
Among the small caps, Lightning Minerals Ltd (ASX:L1M) was as much as 27.94% higher to $0.087 and Yandal Resources Ltd (ASX:YRL) continued recent upward moves, climbing another 27.12% to an intra-day high of $0.375.
Magmatic Resources Ltd (ASX:MAG) reached $0.044, an increase of 15.79% on the previous close, Boadicea Resources Ltd (ASX:BOA) was as much as 13.04% higher at $0.026, European Lithium Ltd (ASX:ASX:EUR, OTCQB:EULIF) increased by 12.5% to $0.027, Highfield Resources Ltd (ASX:HFR) hit $0.285, an 11.77% increase, Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX:AVR, OTC:AMEUF) lifted by as much as 9.12% to $9.82, Element 25 Ltd (ASX:E25, OTCQX:ELMTF) rose 6% to $0.265, Tolu Minerals Ltd (ASX:TOK) traded to $1.05, a 5% increase on the previous close and FireFly Metals Ltd (ASX:FFM) was up to 4.96% to an intra-day high of $1.06.
The five at five
Cobalt Blue seeks up to $6.08 million in non-renounceable entitlement issue
Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:COB, OTC:CBBHF) is eyeing off funds of up to $6.08 million, before costs, in a pro-rata non-renounceable rights issue of one new share for every five shares at $0.072 per share.
Read more
Empire Energy drilling first full-scale pilot development well at Carpentaria Pilot Project in Beetaloo Basin
Empire Energy Group Ltd (ASX:EEG, OTC:EEGUF) has kicked off drilling operations for the Carpentaria-5H, or C-5H, well within its 100%-owned permit in the Beetaloo Basin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Read more
Livium completes sale of remaining 30% interest in Bynoe Lithium Project
Livium Ltd (ASX:LIT, OTC:LMMFF) has completed the sale of its remaining 30% interest in the Bynoe Lithium Project to Charger Metals NL (ASX:CHR) (Charger Metals NL (ASX:CHR)) for $500,000 cash.
Read more
Tamboran Resources maintains Beetaloo Basin pace with SS-2H ST1 well cased and drilling to start at SS-3H
Tamboran Resources Corporation (NYSE:TBN, ASX:TBN) has suspended drilling at the Shenandoah South 2H sidetrack (SS-2H ST1) well in the Beetaloo Basin of Australia's Northern Territory and completed well casing, having drilled to a depth of 16,182 feet (4,932 metres).
Read more
St George Mining appoints Brazilian environmental consultancy to advance high-grade Araxá Niobium-REE Project
St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) has appointed leading Brazilian environmental consultancy Alger to advise on socio-environmental and cultural heritage matters in connection with the licensing of proposed mining operations at the advanced, high-grade niobium-rare earth element (REE) Araxá Project in Brazil.
Read more
On your six
Tech Bytes: Major graphics processing unit manufacturer relocates from China to avoid US export controls
With the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card slated for release early next year, major graphics processing unit manufacturer PC Partner has relocated from Hong Kong to Singapore while HKEPC reports the manufacturer is also shifting its production facilities to Indonesia, although the company denies this.
Read more
The one to watch
Tolu Minerals hits up to 61.20 g/t gold and 1,979 g/t silver at Tolukuma
Tolu Minerals Ltd (ASX:TOK) (Tolu Minerals Ltd (ASX:TOK)) CEO Iain Macpherson joins Proactive’s Tylah Tully to discuss significant high-grade gold and silver results from diamond drilling at Taula prospect, 4.5 kilometres southeast of the Tolukuma Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea.
Watch