The local share market is higher again as traders digest preliminary earnings reports and the implications of Australia’s labour market remaining red hot.
At noon AEST on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 16.6 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 7,340.3.
The broader All Ordinaries had risen 19.4 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 7,557.6.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier reported the unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 per cent in June, with 33,000 more people finding jobs – more than twice the 15,000 that economists had forecast.
Betashares chief economist David Bassanese said the second straight stronger-than-forecast labour market report would keep the pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift interest rates further.
Much depended on the outcome of next week’s June quarter consumer price index report, he added.
The ASX200 has been drifting lower since the jobs report, while the Aussie dollar jumped from 68.94 US cents to 68.33 US cents on expectations that it would force another RBA rate hike.
Investors were also examining overnight earnings reports with electric vehicle maker Tesla posting better than expected earnings.
Streaming giant Netflix gained millions more subscribers than forecast following a clampdown on password sharing.
At midday every sector of the ASX was in the green except for health care and energy, which were both down slightly.
Tech was the biggest winner, climbing 0.7 per cent as Nuix soared 40.9 per cent to $1.11 after releasing preliminary earnings reports.
The data intelligence company said it expected to announce underlying full-year earnings of around $44 million to $47m, up 50 per cent from a year ago, as efforts to control costs paid off.
Wisetech Global was up 1.0 per cent, Nextdc had added 1.1 per cent and Megaport had advanced 3.1 per cent.
In the heavyweight financial sector, QBE was up 1.5 per cent to $15.47 as the insurer previewed its first-half results and said recent momentum in premium growth had continued.
The big four banks were mixed, with CBA and Westpac up 0.4 and 0.2 per cent, respectively, while ANZ had dropped 0.8 per cent and NAB had declined 0.4 per cent.
In the materials sector, BHP was up 0.2 per cent as the mining behemoth announced it had achieved full-year production guidance for copper, iron ore, coking coal and energy coal.
RBC Capital Markets analysts Tyler Broda and Kaan Peker called it a “another solid operational quarter” for BHP, which they said was continuing to execute in its key areas.
Rio Tinto had added 0.4 per cent and Fortescue Metals had advanced 1.1 per cent.
Endeavour Group had gained 2.4 per cent to $6.03 after the pub owner said it would implement gaming reforms announced by the Victorian government as soon as possible, saying most were broadly aligned with what it was already doing.
Flight Centre had gained 4.2 per cent to $21.68 after upgrading its full-year guidance by about seven per cent, to around $300m.
“Overall, we are pleased with our continued recovery as demand has generally rebounded solidly across both our leisure and corporate travel businesses,” managing director Graham Turner said.