Australian shares recorded gains around midday AEST, as market participants braced for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s crucial interest rate decision later in the afternoon. The energy sector provided a notable boost, climbing on the back of rising oil prices. However, not all companies shared in the upward trend, with industrial conglomerate SGH and technology firm Life360 experiencing significant plunges. SGH faced market punishment following a profit downgrade, with its chairman Ryan Stokes attributing challenges more to political risk than a slowing economy.
In other significant corporate developments, professional services giant KPMG announced the resignations of its general counsel, Louise Capon, and human resources chief, Dorothy Hisgrove. Their exits were finalised after a lengthy negotiation process with the firm’s board, coming ahead of an anticipated Senate probe. Meanwhile, ANZ, one of Australia’s major banks, has doubled its forecast for a housing market downturn, indicating a more challenging outlook for the property sector.
The mergers and acquisitions landscape remains active, with private equity firm PEP lining up over $600 million in debt as the battle for FleetPartners intensifies. The emergence of Element in the auction has put FleetPartners’ board in a complex position. Beyond local shores, heavyweight investors Macquarie and GIC are set to power AI giant Anthropic’s expansion through a new data centre rollout. Anthropic is a leading artificial intelligence company focused on building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Globally, chipmaker Nvidia is also tapping Wall Street to raise a massive $709 billion for its ‘AI factory’ funding deal, supporting the booming data centre market.
Internationally, former US President Donald Trump has targeted Australian lamb imports, sparking concerns for the nation’s $1.4 billion market. Sheep producer Roger Fletcher highlighted that Australian imports constitute three-quarters of the US supply, suggesting their removal would significantly impact American restaurants. Separately, Jeff Bezos is reportedly on the verge of a deal to buy a stake in Liverpool Football Club, in a transaction that could value the Premier League club at more than $8.5 billion.
