AU Morning Wrap: Shares lift; MinRes soars 11pc on lithium spin-off talk

Wall Street Summary
Wall Street's main indices overcame a mid-session wobble as Fed Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the bank's commitment to fighting inflation. Gains in banking, mining and healthcare stocks proved decisive during an afternoon recovery.

The $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ rallied 26 points or 0.66 per cent. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ gained 193 points or 0.61 per cent. The $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ added 70 points or 0.6 per cent.

AU Market Watch
Australian stock futures are pointing to an uncertain open for the S&P/ASX 200's final session of the week. ASX futures are flat after the benchmark index jumped 1.8% on Thursday to move into positive territory for the week. The ASX 200's biggest one-day rise since late June came after comments by the RBA governor were interpreted as indicating Australia's central bank may soon slow the pace of interest-rate rises.

Australian shares opened higher this morning. The $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU)$ gained 0.22 per cent to 6864.1 as of 10:09 am.

Stocks to Watch
$Rhythm Biosciences Ltd(RHY.AU)$: Otto Buttulla the chairman of speculative cancer diagnostics business Rhythm Biosciences has taken some chips off the table with the sale of 5 million shares at $1.30 each for $6.5 million. It said a leading fund manager was the buyer of the shares.

$Mineral Resources Ltd(MIN.AU)$: Mineral Resources says any plans to list its lithium business are not sufficiently advanced to warrant disclosure in response to a report in The Australian Financial Review.

$Fonterra Shareholders Fund(FSF.AU)$: New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra has lifted its earnings guidance from 30¢ to 45¢ share to 45¢ to 60¢ per share. It also revised milk collection forecasts lower.

Ex-dividend: $Argo Global Listed Infrastructure Ltd(ALI.AU)$, $Ambertech Ltd(AMO.AU)$, $Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Ltd(NEC.AU)$, $NTAW Holdings Ltd(NTD.AU)$, $Sequoia Financial Group Ltd(SEQ.AU)$, $WiseTech Global Ltd(WTC.AU)$

Dividends paid: $Anglogold Ashanti Ltd(AGG.AU)$, $Australian United Investment Co Ltd(AUI.AU)$, $Baby Bunting Group Ltd(BBN.AU)$, $Diversified United Investment Ltd(DUI.AU)$, $FE Investments Group Ltd(FEI.AU)$, $JB Hi Fi Ltd(JBH.AU)$, $Steadfast Group Ltd(SDF.AU)$

Commodities
• Iron ore futures -0.54% to US$99.55 a tonne.

• Oil prices stage a tiny bounce after a -5.5% tumble on Thursday.