Investors return to the markets but Bitcoin gets hammered
Fears of an interest rate hike were shrugged off this morning as investors poured back into Australian shares, lifting the ASX by more than 100 points in early trade.
The battle for IntelliHR is heading up. (AAP image)
The 1.3 per cent rise was closing in on wiping out yesterday’s losses in a fall of 1.8 per cent.
Domino’s is now trading at $120 a share, valuing it at $10.3 billion, after it recently announced its expansion plans in Asia, including the purchase of its Taiwanese counterpart.
Bank of Queensland was up more than 5 per cent after it yesterday received approval from the Treasurer for the takeover of ME Bank. Megaport’s strong run appeared to be coming to a halt with its shares down marginally this morning.
G8 Education was also up strongly and commercialisation company PPK jumped 4 per cent.
The market was boosted by the announcement of a scrip-based $10 billion merger of Milton Corporation and Washington H Soul Pattinson. Milton shares soared 17 per cent on the news.
Under the deal, Milton shareholders will receive shares in WH Soul Pattinson and would be valued at a 10 per cent premium to the net tangible assets and a 20 per cent premium to its current $5 a share price.
Milton shareholders would also receive a fully franked special dividend estimated at 37 cents a share.
Soul Pattinson is a major shareholder in Brisbane-based coal producer, New Hope Group and its shares bounced 2.9 per cent this morning on generally higher energy sector. Santos and Woodside were also up strongly as was BHP.
Bitcoin prices, along with other cryptocurrencies, is continuing to slide with a 10 per cent fall over night. It was trading today at $42,000 as China continued its crackdown by shutting down crypto miners.
The US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is expected to address Congress tomorrow and his written testimony has already been released. It says that the recent jump in US inflation is temporary.