The Australian share market has finished modestly higher for a second day, as traders shrugged off an US inflation readout showing that consumer price increases still haven't been tamed.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday finished up 16.9 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 7,729.4, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 16.5 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 7,989.5.
The gains came after an overnight rally on Wall Street, where the S&P500 finished at a new record high as investors apparently breathed a sigh of relief that the inflation report wasn't worse.
The US Labor Department reported on Tuesday that consumer prices rose by 3.2 per cent in the year to February, up from 3.1 per cent in the year to January, when there had also been an uptick in inflation.
RBC Capital Markets economist Michael Reid said the data showed yet another month of widespread and elevated price increases and served as a warning that the path to returning inflation to a two per cent target could remain elusive in 2024.
Seven of the ASX's 11 sectors finished higher and four closed lower, with consumer discretionary the biggest gainer, rising 1.3 per cent as Aristocrat Leisure added 2.1 per cent and Wesfarmers climbed 1.5 per cent.
The sector's gains came even as NAB and CBA reported on Wednesday that their internal transaction showed retail spending dipping in February after a strong start to the year in January.
"With the volatile Christmas period now in the rear-view mirror, we can start to get a bit of a clearer picture and it appears consumers remained under pressure in early 2024," NAB chief economist Alan Oster said.
The Big Four banks were mostly higher, with Westpac adding 1.8 per cent to $27.50 and ANZ and NAB both climbing 1.7 per cent, to $29.80 and $34.45, respectively.
CBA was the outlier, declining 0.2 per cent to $117.55.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP dropped 1.3 per cent to $41.95 and Fortescue declined 1.0 per cent to $24.50, while Rio Tinto rose 1.6 per cent to 116.95.
Goldminers were lower as the price of the precious metal dipped about $US20 to $US2,159 an ounce. Northern Star fell 2.3 per cent and Newmont declined 3.0 per cent.
Liontown soared 6.1 per cent to a nearly two-month high of $1.395 as the lithium developer announced it had secured a $550 million debt facility from a lending syndicate that includes CBA and NAB to finance its Kathleen Valley lithium project in WA.
"Having this funding in place provides strong endorsement for our project and a platform of financial certainty from which to move forward," said Liontown managing director and chief executive Tony Ottaviano.
PSC Insurance rose 6.2 per cent to a six-month high of $5.15 before being put in a trading halt following a report in the Australian Financial Review about potential takeover offers for the firm.
"PSC confirms that is has recently received multiple strategic approaches and is in discussions that may or may not lead to an offer being made for PSC," the insurance broker said.
Appen fell 10.2 per cent to 96.5c after the struggling AI training dataset company announced it had been approached by US-based digital data solutions company Innodata about a takeover.
The Nasaq-listed company had floated a purchase price of 70c per Appen share in Innodata stock, which Appen said was at the time a more than an 100 per cent premium. The two companies are in talks, Appen said.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Wednesday up 16.9 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 7,729.4
* The broader All Ordinaries rose 16.5 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 7,989.5.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 66.17 US cents, from 66.13 US cents at Tuesday's ASX close
* 97.62 Japanese yen, from 97.53 yen
* 60.55 Euro cents, from 60.45 Euro cents
* 51.72 British pence, from 51.58 pence
* 107.27 NZ cents, from 107.16 NZ cents
