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The Australian sharemarket has lifted for the first time this week, as the tech sector benefits from a major takeover bid.
The benchmark ASX 200 index advanced by 0.77 per cent, or 58 points, to finish the session at 7605.70 points.
The broader All Ordinaries went up by 0.79 per cent, to close at 7846 points.
Eight of 11 sectors were in the green when markets closed on Thursday, with the tech sector outperforming all other sectors after increasing by 6.8 per cent.
It comes as Altium, the ASX’s fourth-biggest tech company, announced it would be acquired by Japan-based Renesas Electronics for $9.1bn.
The good news follows the slew of companies that have released their half yearly reports.
CommSec reported that of the 46 ASX200 companies that have reported earnings, more than 52 per cent have lifted cash levels.
“Half have increased dividends, 22 per cent left them steady, 28 per cent have cut dividends (and) only two haven’t paid a dividend,” CommSec reported.
Those companies who released their reports on Thursday include Wesfarmers – owners of Bunnings and Officeworks – boosted its profit for 3 per cent to $1.4bn.
Telstra reported a 11.5 per cent rise in half year profit to $1bn.
Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said overall momentum was good but the company would look to improve its business as it faces ongoing challenges.
“We have remained disciplined on reducing our costs, particularly considering the external economic environment,” Ms Brady said.
“This discipline during the half delivered $64m core fixed cost out, and cumulatively we’ve delivered $105m since FY22.
“While we’re being challenged by cost pressure, we still expect to achieve the large majority of our cost out ambition by the end of FY25.”
Telstra shareholders can expect to receive a dividend of 9.0 cents per share.
The Energy sector was the worst performer at the close on Thursday despite Origin Energy reporting a net profit of $747m for the half year, up from $44m a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 4.1 per cent in January from 3.9 per cent in the previous month.
There’s now 600,600 people unemployed across the country, compared to the 578,300 Aussies were out of work in December.
Thursday’s announcement means it’s the first time the unemployment rate has been above 4 per cent since January 2022.
The Australian dollar increased by 0.08 per cent to finish at US 64.92c on Tuesday.
Overseas, the S & P 500 closed 0.9 per cent higher, while the Dow Jones rose 0.4 per cent.
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