Aust shares rise at noon as miners climb, CSL drags

The local bourse is heading higher, on track for its third consecutive day of gains, after the moderating inflation in the United States appeared to make a rate hike this week unlikely.

At noon AEST on Wednesday, the S&P/ASX200 index was up 13 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 7,151.9. The All Ordinaries had gained 17.6 per cent, or 0.24 per cent , at 7,346.7.

Overnight the US Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 4.0 per cent in the 12 months to May, down from 4.9 per cent the month before and down dramatically since inflation peaked at 9.1 per cent last June.

“In short, the CPI report showed inflation cooling in line with expectations,” Comerica Bank chief economist Bill Adams and senior economist Waran Bhahirethan wrote in a note.

“For the Fed, that is probably enough for them to hold interest rates unchanged at their June 14 decision, which would be the first decision without a hike since early 2022.”

The decision will be handed down at 4am AEST on Thursday, with Fed chairman Jerome Powell holding a press conference a half-hour later.

The market would be up even more but was being dragged by CSL, which had fallen 7.5 per cent to a two-month low of $275.34, pulling the ASX200 down by a massive 33 points.

The blood products giant announced it now expects a foreign currency headwind of around $US230 million to $US250m, up from $US175m previously forecast.

CSL also forecast its net profit for 2023/24 would grow 13 to 18 per cent to $US2.9 billion to $US3b, which RBC Capital Markets analyst Craig Wong-Pan described as a “large miss” to consensus expectations of a $US3.5b profit.

The mining sector was serving as a counterweight to the health care’s woes, however, after iron ore prices jumped to a nearly eight-week high of $US114 a tonne overnight following China unveiling monetary stimulus measures.

BHP was up 3.1 per cent to $45.65, Fortescue Metals had climbed 3.7 per cent to $21.57 and Rio Tinto was up 3.0 per cent to $116.23.

Lithium miners were also higher, with Pilbara climbing 3.6 per cent, Allkem rising 4.2 per cent and Mineral Resources rebounding 3.9 per cent.

All of the Big Four banks were higher, with Westpac up 0.9 per cent, NAB adding 0.8 per cent, ANZ rising 0.4 per cent and Commonwealth climbing 0.5 per cent.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, Macquarie was up 1.1 per cent and IAG had risen 2.1 per cent.