AU Morning Wrap: ASX Flat; Myer Soars 16%; Market Backs Xero Job Cuts

Wall Street's main indices finished mixed after strong readings on private payrolls and job vacancies underscored the risk of another knockout employment report tomorrow night. With the Fed struggling to contain inflation, investors fear a strong February jobs report will force the central bank to hike its benchmark rate by half a percentage point.

Australian shares are trading flat as shares in index majors CSL, BHP and Rio Tinto trade ex-dividend.

Department store giant Myer surged 15 per cent after it rewarded shareholders with a super-sized dividend and posted a more than 100 per cent surge in bottom-line net profit in the first half.

Xero gained 9 per cent on news it would cut up to 800 jobs to improve profitability, representing about 15 per cent of its total headcount.

Blue Orca's report targets dual Nasdaq and ASX-listed Piedmont Lithium and ASX-listed Atlantic Lithium.

The latter put its shares into a trading halt this morning.

The suspension will impact production results for the current quarter.

The company said department store sales were strong in the post-Christmas period, up 16.1 per cent over the corresponding period in the prior year.

The company also plans to exit cloud-based lending platform Waddle - acquired in 2020 - and expects to incur a write-down of $30-40 million in FY23.

• Iron ore rose for a second day after data earlier this week showed increases in Chinese ore imports and steel production. Customs data showed Chinese ore imports were 7.3 per cent higher year-on-year in the first two months of this year. Steel output expanded by 5.16 per cent between February 21 and 28 from the previous ten-day period, according to the China Iron and Steel Association.

The most-traded May ore futures contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange added to Tuesday's 1.34 per cent advance with a rise of 0.83 per cent in daytime trade to 912 yuan (US$130.95) a tonne.

• Oil declined for a second session, even as US stockpiles showed their first drawdown in 11 weeks. The Energy Information Administration said US crude inventories declined by 1.7 million barrels last week, ending a run of ten straight weekly increases.

Brent crude settled 63 US cents or 0.8 per cent lower at US$82.66 a barrel.

• Gold finished modestly lower, pressured by strength in the greenback. Gold for April delivery settled US$1.40 or 0.1 per cent lower at US$1,818.60 an ounce. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index shed 0.58 per cent.