logo-loader

S&P/ASX 200 recovers on strong performance by mining and industrials

Published: 02:18 26 Mar 2019 EDT

1553581325_2018.01.03_trading
BHP closed 1.13% higher

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) (ASX:XJO) has managed to stabilise and recover slightly from Monday’s loss to close up 0.07% today at 6130.6.

Miners and industrials rallied with BHP Group (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) all higher between 0.7% and 1.7%.

Transurban (ASX:TCL), up 1.4%, and Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD), 1.8% higher, led gains for the industrials.

Energy and consumer discretionary names were among the biggest decliners with financials also seeing a mixed session.

Takeover proposal for Lynas from Wesfarmers

Rare earths miner Lynas Corp (ASX:LYC) surged 35% after being the target of an unsolicited, nonbinding and conditional takeover proposal from Wesfarmers (ASX:WES).

The conglomerate is offering $2.25 per share for Lynas, which was 44.7% higher than Lynas’ previous close of $1.56 and values the miner at $1.5 billion. Wesfarmers ended the day 3.5% lower.

Coles bringing robot-driven grocery platform to Australia

Investors cheered the news of supermarket giant Coles Group (ASX:COL) signing an agreement with UK online grocer, Ocado, for a major shake-up of Coles’ digital offering.

Coles shares managed to improve by 2.2% after signing the deal to bring Ocado’s robot-driven grocery platform to Australia.

BenevolentAI advances novel ulcerative colitis treatment through Phase 1a trial

BenevolentAI (OTC:BAIVF) chief scientific officer Dr Anne Phelan joins Proactive's Stephen Gunnion with positive safety data from the Phase 1a, first-in-human, clinical study of BEN-8744 in healthy volunteers. Phelan explained that BEN-8744 is a potent, selective PD10 inhibitor, uniquely...

52 minutes ago