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The Australian market’s rally extended into a fourth straight session today with the key index ending the day up 0.65%, driven by a surge in real estate stocks today.

ANZ consumer confidence data for last week out today shows Aussie confidence fell 0.5% following the RBA’s latest interest rate hike, however Westpac Consumer Confidence data for September also out today showed an increase of 3.9%, rebounding from a 3% fall in August and rising for the first time since November 2021.

NAB business confidence data was also released today, which showed businesses were also confident in August as the index rose 2 points to 10 in August and conditions remain strong across the states and most industries indicating that demand remains strong. NAB expects that inflation and rising interest rates will eventually begin to weigh on household budgets which will in-turn lead to decreasing demand.

The best performing stocks today were Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) which added almost 10%, NOVONIX (ASX:NVX) gained 7.5% and BrainChip (ASX:BRN) jumped 5.8%.

The bigger stories came out of the losing front today:

• Link Administration (ASX:LNK) nosedived more than 20% as investors fled the stock on concerns that the company’s proposed $2.5b buyout by Dye & Durham would be derailed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory approval process.
• A consortium of investors led by KKR pulled out of takeover talks with Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC) for a buyout worth nearly $30b which led to Ramsay Health Care shares tumbling 10%.
• Woolworths’ (ASX:WOW) acquisition of 80.2% of issued shares in MyDeal was approved by the NSW Supreme Court today. It is expected that an office copy of the Court orders will be lodged with ASIC tomorrow, at which time the Scheme will become legally effective.
• Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) has been found unfit to hold a casino licence in NSW today following a lengthy inquiry into the hotel and casino giant by the NSW Independent Casino Commission. Shares in SGR rallied more than 3% today in a sign the market expected this outcome from the inquiry and in anticipation of who will come in to recover and restructure the casino giant in order to comply with regulations.

The top traded stocks by Bell Direct clients today were Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG).

In economic data, investors are eagerly awaiting the release of US inflation data for August which is out later tonight, to gain an insight into whether the cost of living in the world’s largest economy continued to decline for the month.