ASX live updates: All the latest news from company reporting season on the Australian market

Footy fever has helped score a try for consumer spending, with a series of big matches prompting Australians to open their wallets, the nation’s biggest bank says.

Read the full story here.

The S&P/ASX200 index in nudging a new record ... and the 8900-point mark.

The market was up 0.3 per cent after the first hour of trade, hitting 8898.2 by 11.05am AEST.

The surge among the top 200 companies on the index was led by Ampol, which climbed 6.8 per cent after last night revealing a $1.1b deal to buy 500 EG Group service stations. It will add to its already strong network of 1100 sites.

Orora, Mesoblast, Lynas and IDP Education were also among the biggest winners, each adding more than 3.5 per cent.

Amcor was the day’s biggest loser so far, shedding 10 per cent. Temple & Webster was also sold off after soaring yesterday off the back of a very decent set of financials.

Cochlear’s profit miss cost it a plunge of 2 per cent.

Shares in retailer Baby Bunting have soared to a more than two-year hgih following reports shoppers were embracing a new store format that could deliver further record sales.

Its stock shot up 26 per cent at the open to $2.33 - levels not seen since early 2023.

Gold is headed for a weekly loss, after traders pared bets on the Federal Reserve cutting rates next month following a pick-up in inflation.

Bullion traded near $US3335 an ounce, after ending the previous session 0.6 per cent lower following a report that showed US wholesale inflation accelerated in July by the most in three years. Bond yields and the dollar advanced after the data print, weighing on non-interest bearing gold as it is priced in the currency.

Swap traders now see around a 90 per cent chance the US central bank will reduce rates in September, after fully pricing in the move earlier this week. Bullion typically benefits in a lower-rate environment as it pays no interest.

The precious metal has climbed by more than a quarter this year, with the bulk of those gains occurring in the first four months. It has been supported by heightened geopolitical and trade tensions that have spurred haven demand, while central bank purchases have also underpinned its strength.

Last week, confusion over whether gold bars would be subject to US tariffs prompted a spike in the premium for futures in New York over the spot price in London. President Donald Trump said on Monday that there would not be a levy - causing the gap in the two markets to narrow - but formal clarification is still pending.

Spot gold was steady at $US3336.45 an ounce this morning, putting it on track for a 1.8 per cent loss this week. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed. Silver was flat, while platinum and palladium edged lower.

Bloomberg

Baby Bunting is carrying sales momentum into the new financial year after reporting record sales for the 12 months to the end of June.

The retailer today said there had been a 4.8 per cent rise in sales in the firist six weeks of FY26, led by a 13.7 per cent surge in comparable sales in New Zealand.

Sales were up 4.7 per cent last year to a recocord $521.9 million, supported by strong comparable store sales growth of 4.2 per cent.

Exclusive and private label brands now represent 47.1 per cent of total sales.

The group saw strong performances across all key categories, with particular strength in soft goods as its Store of the Future format drove increased basket sizes (up 6 per cent) and a 24 per cent increase in transactions.

Statutory profit soared a staggering 462 per cent, up from $1.7m to $9.5m.

CEO Mark Teperson said the result, which came amid “a challenged consumer environment where gross margins have been under pressure”, validated the effectiveness of its strategy.

“The Store of the Future program has so far exceeded our expectations and customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” he said.

“The three stores we have refurbished have generated on average 28 per cent higher sales since they re-opened. They’ve also achieved gross margin improvement of around 40 basis points above our network performance for July.

“We’re excited about rolling our new design out across our network and we have upgraded our targeted growth rate for refurbished stores to 15 to 25 per cent.

The Store of the Future concept divides stores into zone to help shoppers more easily navigate items on offer, such as sleep, travel, feeding and play.

The company reduced debt to $4.6m - down from $13m in theprior financial year, and will withhold a final dividend to fund its growth strategy.

Market bellwether Cochlear has reported a 9 per cent jump in statutory profit to $388.9m as revenue for its hearing implants over the full year rose by the same margin to $2.36 billion.

But its stock will be on watch at the opening bell, with the $20b company missing profit predictions of closer to $400m.

Cochlear will pay out a final dividend of $2.15, taking the full-year distributin to $4.30, up 20c from a year earlier.

Revenue from implants and acoustics divisions rose 9 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, but its services operations took a 9 per cent dive, with a tapering in sales following the strong initial uptake of the Cochlear Nucleus 8 sound processor launched in FY23.

“As we look to the future, we remain confident of the opportunity to grow our markets,” the company said.

“There remains a significant, unmet and addressable clinical need for cochlear and acoustic implants that is expected to continue to underpin the long-term sustainable growth of the business.

“Our clear growth opportunity and the rising awareness of the link between cognitive decline and hearing loss, combined with a strong balance sheet, mean we are well placed to create value for our stakeholders now, and over the long term.”

Footy fever has helped score a try for consumer spending, with a series of big matches prompting Australians to open their wallets, the nation’s biggest bank says.

The British and Irish Lions rugby union tour and the State of Origin rugby league decider helped push household spending up 0.8 per cent in July, according to the Commonwealth Bank.

“Fans spent up on travel, entertainment and accommodation,” economist Belinda Allen said.

About 83,000 fans bought tickets for the State of Origin decider, which was won by Queensland, in Sydney on July 9.

The British and Irish Lions tour included nine matches in six cities attended by about 452,000 people, with all but two played in July.

Recreation spending was up 1.8 per cent and hospitality spending increased 1.5 per cent.

Read the full story here.

Here’s what happened on US markets overnight.

Wall Street’s main indexes are mixed, with S&P 500 edging up to a closing high while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq were flat after a hotter-than-expected producer prices report dampened expectations of potential interest-rate cuts.

A Labor Department report showed producer prices increased the most in three years in July due to a surge in the costs of goods and services, suggesting a broad pickup in inflation was imminent.

Traders trimmed their Fed rate-cut expectations for the rest of the year to about 56.7 basis points, according to data compiled by LSEG, compared with around 63 bps before the report.

But they are still fully pricing in a quarter-percentage-point cut in September.

“The implication is that the Fed is going to offer a 25-(basis point) cut in September. But it will be a hawkish cut. It’s way too early still for the Fed to wish to guide the market towards an extended easing cycle,” said Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie Group.

“The next important thing will be the Expenditures Price Index later this month. If there are signals that there’s inflation broadly in services, the market will take that adversely.”

A separate report on Thursday showed the number of people in the US filing new applications for jobless benefits fell last week.

Read the full market wrap-up here.