The local market extended its rally into the midweek session, closing the day up just 0.14%, buoyed by the materials sector jumping 1.13% while real estate stocks were sharply sold-off on the back of the RBA’s 0.25% interest rate hike announcement. A day after the RBA continued its dovish approach to tackling the country’s inflation by announcing another 25-basis point rate hike, CBA has announced its variable home loan interest rate will increase by 0.25%, passing the full RBA rate hike onto customers. Shares in the big bank rose 0.15% today following the announcement.

New data released out of the US indicating crude oil inventories are declining, signal further signs of demand-driven market tightness which fuelled the price of crude oil to jump 1.25% today to US$89.5 per barrel. The new data also sparked a rally for oil giants Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) and Santos (ASX:STO) today, each gaining 1.5% and 0.6% respectively. The energy sector regained momentum today after closing lower yesterday, on the back of the news about the declining oil stockpile in the US.

The story of the session today was global market-leading packaging company Amcor (ASX:AMC) falling 4.35% despite releasing its quarterly update including a 9% increase in revenue to US$3.7bn, and net income rising 15% to US$232m. The packaging company also reported price rises totalling US$400m over the three months to pass on the increase in raw materials to customers.

Taking a look at the stocks that led the market gains today, Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) jumped 8.55% after Morgans retailed its ‘add’ rating on the coal miner and increased its price target on CRN to $2.40, noting better than expected revenue and earnings during the last quarter as the reason. Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) lifted 5.2% today following the release of a positive update on the company’s Kachi project in Argentina. Imugene (ASX:IMU) also added 5% today, to round out the top three winning stocks of the session. And on the losing end of the market, Domino’s Pizza (ASX:DMP) fell 5.8% today, Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW) lost 5.5% and Amcor (ASX:AMC) fell 4.4%.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients today were Seven Group (ASX:SVW), Boral (ASX:BLD) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA).

Today was a big day for housing data in Australia with the release of building permits for September showing a 5.8% decline for the month which was lower than the market was expecting, while home loans for September fell 9.3% which is more than triple the amount the market was expecting.  

On the commodities front today, gold is trading 0.2% higher at US$1,650.85 per ounce, iron ore is down 0.6% at US$81.50 per tonne, and lithium carbonate continues rising to new records, up 2.2% to 564,500 Chinese Yuan per tonne.

The Australian dollar is buying 64 US cents, 55.7 British Pence, 94.71 Japanese Yen and 1 New Zealand Dollar and 9 cents.