The consumer discretionary sector was up 1.4 per cent at the time of writing. Technology and communication services followed with gains of 1.3 and 0.9 per cent, respectively.
Among the laggards, health and utilities slid 1.1 per cent a piece. Consumer staples traded 0.9 per cent lower.
Backup generator manufacturer Generac Holdings led single stocks with a 6.7 per cent improvement at the time of writing. Software company Ceridian HCM Holding gained 6.5 per cent.
Netflix was up 6 per cent. The subscription streaming service reported a loss of approximately 970,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2022, lower than the projected 2 million. Netflix forecasts a lift in net new subscribers during the third quarter of around 1 million.
Elevance Health slid 9.2 per cent at the time of writing. The health insurer, previously named Anthem, reported second quarter non-GAAP net income of US$8.04 per share and revenue of US$38.5 billion, both exceeding market expectations.
Baker Hughes dropped 8 per cent. The oil services company reported earnings per share of US$0.11, below market forecasts.
Biogen was down 6.7 per cent. The biotechnology company reported second-quarter revenue of US$2,589 million (-7.0 per cent year-on-year) and lifted its full-year guidance for revenue and earnings, respectively. Biogen also outlined the competition it faces from generic and biosimilar drugs on its Tecfidera and Rituxan products.
Rest of the World
Asian markets performed strongly. The Nikkei gained 2.7 per cent, followed by the Hang Seng (+1.1 per cent) and the Shanghai Composite (+0.8 per cent).
A union representing Hyundai Motor Company's South Korean workers has reached an agreement with the automaker to raise wages by 9 per cent. The deal follows Hyundai's (+0.3 per cent) announcement of a new electric vehicle production facility, its first new plant in South Korea in almost three decades.
Commodities
The WTI Crude Oil price slipped to US$102.38 per barrel, down 1.8 per cent at the time of writing.
Gold lowered 0.6 per cent to US$1,700.10 an ounce.
Among the cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin lifted 1.2 per cent, while Ethereum slipped 0.2 per cent.
The US 10-Year Treasury yield improved slightly, being 3.038 per cent at the time of writing.
New Zealand
The NZX 50 closed in the green, up 0.3 per cent yesterday.
The biggest gainer was Pacific Edge, rising 5.6 per cent. The biotechnology company announced it had processed 7,055 of its market-leading genomic biomarker Cxbladder tests in the three months to the end of June 2022. This represents a 32 per cent increase on the 5,356 tests processed in the same quarter of the prior financial year.
Tourism and campervan rental company Tourism Holdings increased 3.3 per cent while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rounded out the top movers with a gain of 2.8 per cent.
Conversely, fleet management company EROAD dropped 2.8 per cent and retirement village operator Oceania Healthcare slid 2.2 per cent.
Genesis Energy lifted 0.9 per cent after releasing its fourth quarter FY22 performance report, which showed total retail customers up 0.7 per cent on third quarter FY22. On the wholesale front, renewable generation rose 32 per cent and generation emissions declined 49 per cent from the same quarter last year.
Contact Energy traded 0.5 per cent higher after it released its operating report for June 2022 which showed mass market electricity and gas sales were up 5.7 per cent on the previous month.
Australia
The ASX 200 performed strongly yesterday, gaining 109.6 points, up 1.7 per cent. All 11 sectors closed in the green with the key drivers being information technology (+3.8 per cent) and materials (+2.5 per cent).
Megaport, a company that enables direct and dedicated connectivity between data centres, saw its share price jump 23 per cent. This followed its quarterly results which showed that its first positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were driven by revenue growth of 13 per cent.
Zip Co also closed in the green, up 12.7 per cent. The company has bounced back 50 per cent from its all-time low last month but remains more than 84 per cent down for the year.
Paladin Energy rounds out the top three performers with a 10.5 per cent increase to its share price. The uranium producer announced that it is returning to its Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia to continue production.
Insurance company NIB was the biggest underperformer yesterday, with a 3.2 per cent drop. This decline brought the company back to the share price it had at the start of the year.
After two consecutive days leading the ASX 200, Pendal Group dropped 2.0 per cent. The company remains more than 14.0 per cent up this week.
Perseus Mining closed out the laggards with a 1.5 per cent decline.
Lithium chemicals company Allkem announced that it expected lower ore output in its 2023 fiscal year due to a skilled labour shortage in Western Australia. The share price closed 0.9 per cent higher.
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Jarden is advising Tourism Holdings Limited on an agreement to merge with Apollo Tourism and Leisure Limited
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