ASX Large Caps: Telstra, TPG jump after Optus debacle; James Hardie surges 13pc on Q2 update

Telco stocks like Telstra and TPG jumped after Optus outage
Mining, oil stocks fell as iron ore and crude prices slumped overnight
James Hardie surged 13pc on Q2 update

The ASX rose by 0.2% on Wednesday, boosted by rallies in Tech and Comm Services stocks.

Headline news today should have been was all about Glenn Maxwell the nationwide outage of Optus, which is the second biggest network in the country.

While investigations are still ongoing, unlisted Optus (which is owned by Singpore’s SingTel), has ruled out cyberattack as the root cause.

“This is a very, very rare occurrence and when I have more information about the root cause I will be the first to let all our customers know,” said Optus CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

At the time of writing, some Optus services for both fixed lines and mobile are gradually being restored.

Telstra (ASX:TLS) rose 2%, while TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG) rose 1.5% after the incident.

Tech stocks also rallied after Nasdaq notched its eighth straight day of gains overnight, with the Magnificent Seven stocks all advancing and pacing the session.

Main ASX gainers here were Wisetech (ASX:WTC) and Altium (ASX:ALU).

Iron ore and oil stocks meanwhile were down after iron ore prices slumped overnight on weak Chinese data, and crude prices tumbled by over -4%.

Main losers in this sector today were BHP (ASX:BHP), which was down almost 3% and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) which slipped 2%.

Elsewhere in the region, Asian stocks traded in mixed territories as analysts said oil demand outlook in China, the world’s biggest importer, is waning.

Looking ahead tonight, Fed Reserve Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap JHX James Hardie Indust 46.71 13.13 1,664,338 $18,075,640,481 RHC Ramsay Health Care 53.31 4.01 482,289 $11,758,527,811 YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 4.72 3.28 2,026,596 $6,034,408,227 CWY Cleanaway Waste Ltd 2.51 2.87 3,025,539 $5,437,380,139 SQ2 Block 79.21 3.02 122,628 $2,597,491,598 CEN Contact Energy Ltd 7.41 4.37 3,396 $1,807,278,261 MP1 Megaport Limited 10.38 2.77 294,969 $1,606,538,461 MAD Mader Group Limited 6.84 3.48 41,175 $1,322,000,000 ABC Adbri Limited 2.04 3.30 207,212 $1,287,059,200 JDO Judo Cap Holdings 0.93 2.76 105,980 $1,003,917,254 PNV Polynovo Limited 1.37 3.58 699,744 $914,558,395

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James Hardie (ASX:JHX) was the best performing large cap, up 13%, after reporting record Q2 global Adjusted EBITDA of US$285.5 million, with an EBITDA margin of 28.6%. The company also reported record first half operating cash flow of US$459.1 million, up 74% on pcp.

Magellan Financial (ASX:MFG) was up 0.4% after hosting its AGM. A report by the AFR said proxy votes on its remuneration report showed that 58% of shareholders voted against it.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap S32 South32 Limited 3.10 -4.62 17,736,516 $14,720,090,346 NEM Newmont Corporation 56.02 -4.47 1,329,626 $20,042,718,709 CMM Capricorn Metals 4.64 -4.13 551,597 $1,819,637,567 CIA Champion Iron Ltd 7.60 -3.25 1,916,719 $4,060,771,520 AWC Alumina Limited 0.75 -3.23 10,623,918 $2,248,803,098 CRN Coronado Global Res 1.66 -3.21 3,714,888 $2,875,118,147 DEG De Grey Mining 1.18 -3.09 2,346,181 $2,185,900,878 GOR Gold Road Res Ltd 1.85 -2.89 1,847,188 $2,056,681,278 RRL Regis Resources 1.78 -2.86 2,224,511 $1,386,046,713 MCY Mercury NZ Limited 5.52 -2.82 3,258 $7,902,170,718 IGO IGO Limited 9.35 -2.50 2,563,216 $7,262,198,327 KAR Karoon Energy Ltd 2.34 -2.50 3,235,204 $1,359,648,022 BHP BHP Group Limited 44.52 -2.28 5,587,330 $230,931,784,696 HLI Helia Group Limited 3.76 -2.21 422,608 $1,180,836,833 RIO Rio Tinto Limited 119.28 -2.08 882,830 $45,217,847,027 SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 8.82 -2.00 208,938 $1,195,530,021 BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 1.39 -1.94 4,076,522 $1,625,842,876 MEZ Meridian Energy 4.55 -1.94 28,296 $5,875,978,000

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