AU Morning Wrap: ASX Firms, Buoyed by Energy as Oil Prices Jump

Coming off its seventh straight week of gains, the $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ rose 0.5 per cent. The tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ advanced 0.6 per cent, while the $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ was effectively unchanged, rising roughly one point to just eke out its fourth straight record close.

The $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU)$ added 0.1 per cent, or 8.1 points, in the first 10 minutes of trade to 7434.5. Communications and consumer staples were the only two sectors in the red.

$AGL Energy Ltd(AGL.AU)$: AGL Energy slipped 0.2 per cent on plans to build a 500 MW battery plant at the company's Hunter Energy Hub in NSW.

$G8 Education Ltd(GEM.AU)$: G8 Education vaulted 11 per cent after flagging a "marked" improvement in the second half of 2023 amid a cost discipline, projecting a profit of $62 million to $64 million for the full year.

$Azure Minerals Ltd(AZS.AU)$: Lithium explorer Azure Minerals entered a binding deed for Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) and Hancock Prospecting to buy all its shares via a scheme of arrangement for a cash amount of $3.70 per share. Shares closed at $3.63 on Friday, before the trading halt.

$Propel Funeral Partners Ltd(PFP.AU)$: Propel Funeral Partners was unchanged. The company bought three businesses in Australia and NZ for $10.6 million.

$Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd(TLX.AU)$: Telix Pharmaceuticals dropped 3.7 per cent even though it submitted a license application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a radiopharmaceutical imaging agent for kidney cancer.

$Origin Energy Ltd(ORG.AU)$: Origin Energy rallied 0.8 per cent after announcing an another £280 million ($530 million) into British energy retailer and tech platform Octopus Energy.

$Allkem Ltd(AKE.AU)$: Allkem fell 0.5 per cent ahead of the results of a merger vote at its AGM.

Dividends Paid: $Aristocrat Leisure Ltd(ALL.AU)$, $Incitec Pivot Ltd(IPL.AU)$, $Macquarie Group Ltd(MQG.AU)$, $Infratil Ltd(IFT.AU)$, $Westpac Banking Corp(WBC.AU)$