7.03pm EST
19:03
ASX climbs after US signals interest rate rise
The Australian sharemarket has so far shrugged off turmoil on overseas markets, with the benchmark ASX 200 index jumping 0.9% this morning.
Markets in the US and UK seesawed overnight after the US central bank indicated it would raise interest rates soon because inflation is rising.
Banks, energy companies and utilities are up this morning while healthcare and retailers are down.
Online travel agency Webjet, which has been punished in recent days due to travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the Omicron variant, rose 4.21% by 11am.
Accounting software firm Xero, which has been in a slump all month, lost 4.08%.
Updated
at 7.16pm EST
7.02pm EST
19:02
In New Zealand’s biggest city, the streets were calm. At an Auckland supermarket, shelves of toilet paper, wine, chocolate and flour – metrics of a population hunkering down for a marathon of self-soothing and banana bread – had been quietly restocked from any panic-buying flurries.
In an uptown cafe, a barista said things had been a little quieter since the announcement. Then again, she shrugged: “It might just be a Tuesday.” At Unity Books, a bookstore at the heart of the city, people were quietly browsing. “There’s always an element of eerie calm before the storm,” said bookseller Briary Lawry.
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