Mixed finish for ASX; Boral exits US with $1 billion sale of North American fly ash business

The Australian share market has posted a mixed finish to the session, while Boral shares have risen after the company confirmed its exit from the US.

The benchmark ASX 200 index made a gain of 0.1 per cent, or just 3 points, to finish at 7,245.1.

The broader All Ordinaries index ended in the red, down 0.2 per cent to 7,529 points.

The Australian dollar was up slightly, to around 70.2 US cents, following a sharp fall on Friday.

Shares in major mining stocks weighed on the local share market, including BHP (-1.6pc) and Rio Tinto (-1.8pc) and South32 (-1.3pc).

Technology was the worst-performing sector, with substantial falls for Afterpay (-4.3pc), Appen (-5.4pc) and Zip (-10.1pc).

On the flipside, shares in gold miners rose, led by Silver Lake Resources (+4.6pc).

Grocery wholesaler Metcash was the best performer among the top 200, with shares up 7.3 per cent.

The company unveiled a 3 per cent increase in first-half net profit, to nearly $129 million.

Metcash — which supplies IGA supermarkets — said sales grew, helped by "the preference for local neighbourhood shopping and shift from cities to regional areas".

Oil prices rose during the local session, with Brent crude up 2 per cent to $US71.29 a barrel.

Asian markets were mostly lower, including Tokyo's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng.

Shares in embattled property developer China Evergrande Group slumped 12.9 per cent in Hong Kong trade, after it said on Friday there was no guarantee it would have enough funds to meet debt repayments, fuelling concerns of a default.

The price of Bitcoin was down 8.7 per cent at $US48,896 after a weekend rout on cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin lost around a fifth of its value on Saturday during the broad sell-off, which saw Ether plunge more than 10 per cent.

Boral exits US market with $1 billion sale

Shares in Boral rose 1.6 per cent, after it announced another business sale, completing its exit from the US market.

The building materials maker will sell its North American fly ash operations for $1 billion to Eco Materials Technologies, which is backed by US private equity firms.

Fly ash is a by-product of coal combustion and can be combined with other materials in products including concrete and asphalt.

The deal follows a slew of other divestments for Boral, taking the total proceeds for its North American businesses to more than $4 billion.

"This is a significant milestone that supports our strategy to refocus our construction materials business in Australia," Boral chief executive Zlatko Todorcevski said.

Boral's board will announce plans for returning surplus capital, including the proceeds of the fly ash sale, to shareholders "at the relevant time".

Now majority owned by Seven Group Holdings, Boral's conglomerate was built by billionaire Kerry Stokes.

The company began offloading its US businesses last year, retreating from its global expansion strategy after a hefty writedown in 2020.

The number of Australian job advertisements surged last month, following the further easing of COVID restrictions in several states.

ANZ figures showed a 7.4 per cent rise in November, adding to the 7.5 per cent rise in October.

Total job advertisements stand at 222,093 — up 52 per cent on a year ago and higher than pre-pandemic levels.

"Job ads suggest the unemployment rate should drop back below 5 per cent in the near term, and we expect it to fall to around 4 per cent by the end of 2022 and even further in 2023," ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch said.