AGL ASX

Australian shares have risen, led by gains in technology stocks tracking a Wall Street rally and mining stocks on new strength in commodity prices, ...

There is a better tone in the market than we have seen in recent weeks, in terms of inflation possibly peaking here. "Reducing costs for businesses enables them to offer their customers better prices. "Growth estimates for [the second quarter] are still good. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 575.77 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 33,212.96, the S&P 500 gained 100.4 points, or 2.47 per cent, to 4,158.24 and the Nasdaq Composite added 390.48 points, or 3.33 per cent, to 12,131.13. The RBA's least cost routing initiative aimed to increase competition in the supply of debit card acceptance services and reduce payment costs for businesses by allowing them to choose the lowest cost network to process their transactions. "The growth engine of the US economy is still alive and kicking, and that's important," said Joe Quinlan, head of CIO Market Strategy for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank. A majority of the central bankers backed two half-a-percentage-point rate hikes in June and July, as the group attempts to curb inflation without causing a recession. "We are concerned that Mastercard's alleged conduct meant that businesses did not receive the full benefit of the increased competition that was intended to flow from the least cost routing initiative," ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said. The agreements gave these businesses discounted rates for Mastercard credit card transactions, provided they committed to processing all or most of their Mastercard-eftpos debit card transactions through Mastercard rather than the eftpos network. The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Mastercard for allegedly engaging in conduct with the purpose of substantially lessening competition in the supply of debit card acceptance services. ANZ was up 0.4 per cent to $25.77 despite being sued by the corporate watchdog ASIC for allegedly misleading its customers about how much they have got left to spend on their credit card accounts. Technology stocks led gains on the benchmark, climbing more than 4.6 per cent, tracking a strong Wall Street rally from Friday, with Block's shares and Xero rising 10.9 per cent and 5.2 per cent respectively.