The Australian share market has risen for its second straight day, as some of the nation's biggest companies reported better-than-expected profit results.
The ASX 200 index lifted 0.7 per cent, to close at 7,048 points.
It followed a positive lead from Wall Street, which recovered from a three-day losing streak — which was sparked by signs of economic slowdown in China, Europe's energy crisis and concerns the US Federal Reserve may continue to hike interest rates aggressively.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 per cent to end the session at 4,141 points, the Nasdaq gained 0.4 per cent to 12,432, while the Dow Jones index rose 0.2 per cent to 32,969.
In Europe, the pan-regional STOXX 600 index closed up 0.2 per cent.
By 5:25pm AEST, the Australian dollar was trading at 69.8 US cents, after jumping 1 per cent.
Spot gold rose 0.4 per cent to $US1,758.47 an ounce.
Qantas narrows losses, Woolworths warns of 'volatile' conditions
In corporate news, Qantas's share price jumped 7.1 per cent to $4.86 after reporting its full-year statutory loss had halved to $860 million.
This was driven by the airline's revenue jumping 54 per cent from 2021, when state and international border closures affected air travel more severely.
Qantas also said it would buy back up to $400 million worth of shares after the lifting of COVID curbs spurred a strong rebound in travel demand, lowering its debt levels.
Woolworths reported its annual profit was almost flat as product shortages caused by floods in NSW and Queensland earlier this year, and COVID-19 outbreaks led to a surge in sick workers taking days off.
The retailer's net profit from continuing operations rose 0.7 per cent to $1.51 billion — a result which fell "below our aspirations", according to its chief executive Brad Banducci.
Mr Banducci also warned of "volatile and challenging" trading conditions ahead for the company, sending its share price down 3.2 per cent to $36.20.
Perpetual set to take over Pendal Group
Fund manager Pendal Group has accepted a sweetened cash-and-stock takeover offer from larger rival Perpetual, which values the firm at $2.51 billion.
The revised proposal — in which Perpetual has bumped up the cash portion, while maintaining the stock component — values each Pendal share at $6.54 (31 cents higher than its April offer that was rejected by the target).
Pendal's board urged shareholders to vote for the offer. Its share price jumped 8.4 per cent, while investors knocked down Perpetual's stock by 9.4 pe cent (near its two-year low).
Separately, Perpetual said it expected the deal to add double-digit earnings per share within a year of its closing.
Citi analysts said while that could be likely, "there would also be plenty of risks, with the track record of fund management mergers generally poor".
Record profits and share buybacks
City Chic was the biggest loser on the ASX 200, slumping 19.3 per cent to $1.85 as the fashion retailer missed expectations with its latest profit results.
The coal miner reported a $1.95 billion profit for the year ended June 30 as a global energy squeeze, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, drove coal prices sharply higher. It was a huge improvement compared to its $543.9 million loss a year earlier.
IDP Education was one of today's best performing companies. Its share price jumped 7.5 per cent, after the education services firm more than tripled its annual profit.
Nine Entertainment shares surged 9 per cent after the media company said it would buy back up to 10 per cent of its shares after its full-year net profit grew 35 per cent to $373.5 million.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age publisher said digital subscription and licensing revenue was up 66 per cent for the year, more than offsetting its six per cent decline in revenue from print.
Meanwhile, diversified miner South32's stock gained 1 per cent to $4.27, after it posted a more than five-fold jump in annual profit.
The world's biggest producer of manganese said its underlying profit came in at $US2.6 billion (compared with $US489 million a year ago). Higher realised prices for its key metals helped offset the hit from weather-related disruptions and a labour shortage.
South32, which was spun off from BHP in 2015, declared a special dividend of 3 cents per share and a final dividend of 14 cents (up from 3.5 cents a year earlier).
Market 'biding its time'
Global markets have rebounded sharply since their June lows on bets that US inflation has peaked, and the Fed may hike interest rate hikes at a slower pace.
Some analysts argue the stock market recovery has been overly exuberant.
They are keenly awaiting a speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, on Friday (local time) at the Jackson Hole central bankers' summit in Wyoming.
Mr Powell is expected to provide some clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes and whether the US central bank can achieve a "soft landing" for the economy.
His speech may also cement the market tone until the next Fed meeting in September.
"Caution and fear are the theme for the markets," said Steven Englander, head of global G10 FX research and North America macro strategy at Standard Chartered in New York.
"If Powell says something hawkish and if you buy equities or emerging market currencies, you'll lose 3 per cent before you can blink your eye. So nobody is buying risk right now in the run-up to Jackson Hole."
Traders are divided between expecting a 0.5 or 0.75 percentage point hike by the US central bank.
Oil prices rose in volatile trading on concerns that the United States will not consider additional concessions to Iran — in its response to a draft agreement that would restore Tehran's nuclear deal and potentially crude exports by that member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Brent crude futures jumped 1.6 per cent to $101.84 a barrel.
ABC/Reuters
