Consumer stocks push ASX up; Beach slumps 11pc

The Australian sharemarket advanced at midday, climbing for a second day, buoyed by a strong earnings report from JB Hi-Fi in a busy week of corporate results.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index added 38.7 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7816.4 at lunchtime, tracking a rebound on Wall Street as global markets continue to stabilise after last week’s brutal rout.

On the ASX, nine out of the 11 sectors are in the green, led by consumer discretionary stocks, which rose 1.6 per cent. Tech companies also advanced, sending the sector up 1.3 per cent.

“It will be interesting to see what companies are telling us and how this feeds into what appears to have been a slowing macroeconomic picture,” said Matt Wacher, chief investment officer at Morningstar for the Asia Pacific.

“Anything that points to further heat coming out of the economy will be seen as supportive of the Reserve Bank’s decision to leave rates on hold last week.”

JB Hi-Fi jumped 8.7 per cent after the electronics and home goods retailer declared a special dividend of 80¢ a share, reported better than expected profit and pointed to higher sales for the first month of the new financial year.

Underlying net profit for the 12 months to June 30 fell, however, down 16.4 per cent to $438.8 million compared to the previous year. The retailer also announced that it had snapped up kitchen, laundry and bathroom products businesses, E&S Trading Co.

The results helped lift other consumer discretionary stocks, with Harvey Norman up 3.9 per cent and Super Retail gaining 4.4 per cent.

Stocks in focus

Online vehicle marketplace business CAR Group rose 3.7 per cent after reporting a 41 per cent jump in revenue to $1.1 billion for FY24.

Rail haulage group Aurizon lost 7.5 after it posted a soft FY25 guidance. It also posted a share buyback of up to $150 million when reporting a 25 per cent rise in annual net profit to $406 million.

And Beach Energy shares tumbled 11.2 per cent after a big downgrade at its new Enterprise gas field in south-east Australia. The mid-cap oil and gas producer also posted a net loss for the year ending June 30 of $475.3 million, down from net profit in the 2023 financial year of $400.8 million.