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

The Aussie share market reached a fresh high in the opening minutes of trade, buoyed by hopes of a rate cut in the US next month.

The S&P/ASX200 peaked at 9051.6 within the first half-hour of the opening bell before falling back tobe up 35 points to 9002.4 at 11.25am AEST.

Only six of the 11 sectors were in the green, led by miners, energy stocks and health care.

Utilities, consumer staples, industrials and telcos were the biggest dead weights.

Ansell, Zip Co, Paladin Energy and Block were among the biggest winner, while Reec, Nuiz and Computershare were so far the worst performers.

Macmahon has been awarded a $55 million underground mining services contract by Black Cat Syndicate at the Majestic mining centre, which forms part of the Kal East Gold operation near Kalgoorlie.

The scope of work includes all underground mine development, production services and associated works.

The project is set to start this month and run for an initial 12months.

“We are delighted to be selected as the preferred mining contractor at the Majestic Mining Centre and look forward to supporting Black Cat Syndicate in their growth plans for the Kal East Gold Operation,” said Michael Finnegan, managing director and CEO.

“This contract award reflects Macmahon’s strategic focus of increasing scale in our underground business and I would like to thank our team for their continued dedication and support in building new, trusted client relationships.”

Santos extended the exclusivity period for its proposed $30 billion takeover by an Abu Dhabi-led group by four weeks.

The timeframe will now last to September 19, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer said Monday. It is the second extension for the group consisting of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s XRG unit, Abu Dhabi Development Holding and Carlyle Group.

“The consortium has requested an extension of the exclusivity period to conclude due diligence and to allow the consortium to obtain all necessary approvals to enter into a binding transaction,” Santos said.

Santos shares declined 3.6 per cent last week, their biggest weekly drop since April, after it flagged that there would be another delay in its takeover.

Bloomberg

Higher sales across Endeavour Group’s vast national pub and hotel network has helped to offset a fall in revenue from its Dan Murphy’s and BWS liquor stores.

The group today said “subdued consumer spending” in its retail liquor division was exacerbated by supply disruptions as a result of prolonged strike action by Woolworths warehouse staff on the east coast late last year.

Endeavour reported group-wide sales of $12.06 billion for the full year, down 0.3 per cent from a year earlier.

Sales at its hotels grew 4.1 per cent to $2.1b but retail sales slumped 1.2 per cent to $9.95b.

“Retail continued to trade well around key occasions to celebrate, including Christmas, New Year and Easter, however outside of these events consumer spending remained subdued,” the company said.

“The group lost an estimated $40 million to $50m in retail sales in H1 F25 due to supply chain disruption.”

The company has 1444 BWS and 278 Dan Murphy’s stores.

The bright spot for retail was a 7 per cent rise in online sales.

The results dragged profit down almost 17 per cent to $426 million.

Earnings before interest and tax came in at $926m - down 11 per cent from a year earlier.

The board declared a final dividend of 6.3c a share.

Lithium miner PLS has slumped to a near $200 million full-year loss on lower prices for the key battery material, the costs of a demonstartion plant to pump out a higher-value product and writedowns.

The miner, formerly known as Pilbara Minerals, churned out 754,600 tonnes of spodumene concentrate from its Pilgangoora plant near Port Hedland - up 4 per cent from the previous financial year.

But revenue crashed almost 40 per cent from $1.25 billion to $769m, driven by a 43 per cent fall in the average realised price to $US672 a tonne.

The fall was only partial offset by a 7 per cent rise in sales to 760,100 tonnes for the year.

Underlying earnings nosedived 83 per cent to $97m.

PLS’ cash balance at the end of the year had eroded from $1.6b in FY24 to $1b at June 30.

“FY25 marked a transformational year for PLS,” said MD Dale Henderson.

“While the lithium market experienced material pricing pressure, we maintained strong operational performance, completed a major phase of capital investment, and positioned the business for the next phase of growth.

“We delivered record production and reduced unit operating costs, highlighting the strength and scalability of the Pilgangoora operation.”

Mr Henderson said the long-term fundamentals for lithium remained intact but “current prices are not sufficient to incentivise new supply, which points to potential tightness ahead”.

The $186m loss included a $47m impairment and $20m in construction costs on the POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution Co joint venture which had been aiming to deliver a mid-stream demonstration plant to produce an enriched lithium product.

No final dividend was declared.

Wall Street’s main indexes ended higher on Friday, with the blue-chip Dow hitting a record closing high, as investors piled into stocks after US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell hinted at a near-term interest-rate cut during his Jackson Hole Symposium speech.

His comments on Friday paved the way for a potential rate cut at the Fed’s September 16-17 meeting, although Powell stressed the importance of jobs and inflation data due before then.

“Powell did what central bankers do best at Jackson Hole — he kept the door open,” said Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group.

“A cut in September would reassure households and businesses that the central bank is not asleep at the wheel. Delaying only raises the odds of a harder landing.”

Traders boosted bets on a September rate cut after Powell’s comments, now placing a nearly 90 per cent chance of a reduction, versus about 75 per cent before Powell’s remarks.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 96.73 points, or 1.5 per cent, to end at 6466.55 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 396.22 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 21,496.54.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 841.14 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 45,626.64.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sub-sectors traded higher, with consumer discretionary the biggest gainer.

Read the full market wrap-up here.