PEAK ASSET: ARVO WRAP 15 JANUARY: ASX closes flat; Santos and Super Retail jump | Uranium futures push above $US100 a pound | Kazatomprom’s uranium production goals hit by sulphuric acid shortage |

How was your Monday?

It’s been a good one for uranium stocks – hard to find one that hasn’t gapped up!

Strong trading day for our portfolio company ASX:T92 as it announced the expansion of its uranium footprint in the Athabasca basin.

Across Markets…

The Australian sharemarket was flat on Monday, with little direction to take from overseas as Wall Street was closed for the Martin Luther King Jnr day holiday.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down just 2 points to 7,496.3 at the closing bell. The All Ordinaries Index was flat. Four out of the ASX 200’s 11 industry groups were in the red.

There was a rally in energy stocks as Santos got the green light for Barossa gas field pipeline off the Northern Territory coast. The sector was up 2.1 per cent, led by a 3.7 per cent gain by Santos. The shares climbed after the energy giant’s $5.8 billion gas project off the Northern Territory coast got the go ahead from a Federal Court ruling on Monday.

Uranium stocks were also climbing, as a months-long rally in the sector showed little sign of abating. Boss Energy and Paladin Energy rallied 9.6 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Uranium futures pushed above $US100 a pound over the weekend for the first time since 2007 after Kazatomprom, the world’s biggest uranium miner, warned that it was likely to fall short of its production targets.

Retail stocks were also well bid after Super Retail Group, the owner of Rebel and Supercheap Auto, posted robust Christmas trading with a 3 per cent rise in sales in the first half, but warned rising wages and rents are tipped to dent its profit margin. The stock jumped 5.7 per cent. 

Chief executive Anthony Heraghty said the group delivered another record interim sales result across its more than 700 stores, defying cost-of-living pressures. The shares climbed 6.1 per cent.

Investors also bought up electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi and Premier Investments, which owns retail chains including Peter Alexander and Smiggle. The shares climbed 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.

Source: AFR