Australia
S&P/ASX 200 gains 0.23% and on track for fifth straight monthly advance
S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) recovered from a soft star and is up 0.23% thanks to gains from the energy, real estate and IT sectors.
The biggest mover is the energy sector, up 2% with gains in oil companies like Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL), up 2.25%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO), up 3.47% and Oil Search (ASX:OSH), up 4.14%.
The oil companies gained as oil prices nudged up today, with Brent futures set to post a fifth straight monthly gain, as global stimulus measures underpin prices even as demand struggles to return to pre-COVID levels in a well-supplied market.
Cyber-attack against NZX[hhmc]
New Zealands stock exchange managed to keep trading today even as operator NZXs website crashed again in what appears to be a resumption of cyber-attacks that crippled the market last week.
NZX.com was down for much of the morning, preventing many investors from seeing company announcements and prices, but trading has continued since the 10 am open.
The NZX has been advised by independent cyber speci..

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) recovered from a soft star and is up 0.23% thanks to gains from the energy, real estate and IT sectors.
The biggest mover is the energy sector, up 2% with gains in oil companies like Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL), up 2.25%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO), up 3.47% and Oil Search (ASX:OSH), up 4.14%.
The oil companies gained as oil prices nudged up today, with Brent futures set to post a fifth straight monthly gain, as global stimulus measures underpin prices even as demand struggles to return to pre-COVID levels in a well-supplied market.
Cyber-attack against NZX
New Zealands stock exchange managed to keep trading today even as operator NZXs website crashed again in what appears to be a resumption of cyber-attacks that crippled the market last week.
NZX.com was down for much of the morning, preventing many investors from seeing company announcements and prices, but trading has continued since the 10 am open.
The NZX has been advised by independent cyber specialists that the attacks last week are “among the largest, most well-resourced and sophisticated they have ever seen in New Zealand.”
COVID-19 update
Sydney has been put on alert with a series of virus warnings after New South Wales recorded 10 new COVID-19 cases overnight.
In Victoria, there have been 41 deaths and 73 new cases in the past 24 hours.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he “cant rule out” stage four restrictions being extended for Melbourne beyond the September 13 end date.
The plan to ease the states tough COVID-19 restrictions will be unveiled on Sunday.
Top gainers
Todays top gainers on the ASX include Roots Sustainable Agricultural Techn Ltd (ASX:ROO) (+24.00%), Blue Star Helium Ltd (ASX:BNL) (+9.52%), Cirralto Ltd (ASX:CRO) (+9.52%), Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) (+18.18%), Calima Energy Ltd (ASX:CE1) (+11.11%), Corazon Mining Ltd (ASX:CZN) (+50.00%) and Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX) (10.87%).
Proactive news headlines:
Pan Asia Metals extends IPO till Monday following strong support from investors
Pan Asia Metals Ltd (ASX:PAM) has received applications from investors for its initial public offer (IPO) exceeding the minimum subscription requirement of $4 million.
Australian Vanadium higher as mining lease milestone takes flagship project closer to development
Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has been granted a Mining Lease for its flagship vanadium project for an initial 21 years, marking a key milestone in the path towards development.
Nexus Minerals starts diamond drilling at Pinnacles JV Gold Project
Nexus Minerals Ltd (ASX:NXM) has started diamond drilling at the Pinnacles JV Gold Project in Western Australia as a part of feasibility study work.
Mali Lithium will instantly transform to gold producer through acquiring 80% of Morila Gold Mine in Mali
Mali Lithium Ltd (ASX:MLL) (FRA:N9F) has surged 36% on a transformational acquisition that will see it become a gold producer after securing an 80% interest in the operating Morila Gold Mine in southwest Mali from Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) and AngloGold Ashanti Limited (NYSE:AU) for US$22-27 million.
Element 25 continues fast-tracking Butcherbird Manganese Project with key permit aRead More – Source
Australia
Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?

Australia
Scott Morrison effectively ditches his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption commission

Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Morrison pledged before the 2019 election to legislate a federal integrity body in the parliamentary term that has just ended. The prime minister broke that promise, failing to introduce his own proposal before the 46th parliament was prorogued.
On the hustings on Wednesday, Morrison was asked – given his previous undertaking to create the body – whether he would promise to put his proposal to a vote in the next parliament in the event the Coalition won the 21 May election.
Morrison declined to make that promise. “Our position on this hasn’t changed,” the prime minister said. “Our view has been the same – when the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.”
The prime minister has attempted to inoculate himself from criticism about breaking an election promise by saying he tabled the integrity commission proposal in the parliament.
Tabling an exposure draft, which is what the prime minister did, is not the same as introducing finished legislation to the House of Representatives or the Senate that is then debated and voted on.
As well as repeatedly fudging what happened in parliament, Morrison has also created the impression the proposal can only proceed if Labor agrees to its passage without amendments.
All governments routinely introduce legislation for debate without any undertaking that it will be passed by the opposition. Labor favours a stronger model than the Coalition’s proposal.
Morrison’s lack of urgency on the issue created tensions within government ranks. Late last year, the Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to support independent MP Helen Haines’ bill to establish a federal integrity commission. Archer accused the government of “inertia” over the issue.
At that time, Archer said she was “perplexed” at her own government’s failure to release a revised bill almost three years after it was promised before the last election.
While Morrison clearly wants to move on from the issue, he will face renewed pressure from crossbench independents if the coming election is close enough to deliver a hung parliament.
A number of independents running against Liberals in metropolitan seats have made it clear that establishing a credible national integrity commission will be a key demand in the event any new government – Liberal or Labor – is seeking agreements for confidence and supply.
Haines blasted Morrison’s comments on Wednesday. “Mr Morrison broke an election promise to introduce an anti-corruption commission and his pathway to creating one is still as vague as it was in the last parliament,” she said.
The crossbench independent said it was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim that he could not proceed unless Labor agreed with the Coalition’s proposal without seeking any amendments. “It would appear we are in the same void as we were before,” Haines said.
Australia
Chinese healer Hong Chi Xiao has manslaughter charge overturned and will face new trial

A western Sydney “slapping therapy” practitioner who was found guilty of the manslaughter of a six-year-old diabetic boy and sentenced to 10 years in prison has had his conviction overturned and will face another trial.
Hong Chi Xiao appeared in Sydney’s Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday.
Mr Xiao was extradited from London to Sydney in 2017 to face charges more than two years after the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died following a series of workshops held in Hurstville in April 2015.
The boy’s parents attended the conference where the self-proclaimed Chinese healer showed a “disdain for Western medicine”.
Mr Xiao allegedly advised the parents to stop their son’s insulin injections and blood glucose tests.
A Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) investigation found that Mr Xiao told the boy’s parents that slapping therapy “could heal all diseases, including diabetes, and that no medication was required because insulin could be generated” through the treatment.
He also allegedly recommended the six-year-old boy stop eating for three days and only drink water or a “ginger date drink”.
Slapping therapy, also known as paida lajin, advocates the slapping of skin to release toxins from patients.
The boy became visibly ill over several days and began vomiting a black substance, but Mr Xiao allegedly told the boy’s mother that his body was adjusting to the “self-healing process”.
He began having seizures and was rushed to St George Hospital, where he died.
The NSW Coroner found the treatment directly caused the boy’s death on April 27, 2015.
A District Court jury found Mr Xiao guilty of manslaughter for breaching the duty of care he owed the six-year-old boy through gross negligence.
He was handed a sentence of 10 years with a non-parole period of 7½ years in December 2019.
District Court Judge Garry Neilson said Mr Xiao showed “no signs of true remorse”.
Mr Xiao launched an appeal against his conviction, claiming inconsistencies in the evidence and that Judge Neilson told the jury that there was “no defence” during the trial.
Tim Game SC told the court that Judge Neilson did not summarise the defence case and did not give enough evidence to the jury to make a sound decision.
After a short adjournment, Justice Derek Price, Justice Ian Harrison and Justice Mark Ierace granted the appeal and quashed Mr Xiao’s conviction.
However, he will have to face a fresh trial in front of a new jury.
Mr Xiao will face the Sydney District Court on March 11 for mention.
He has been permanently banned from practising medicine by the HCCC.
The boy’s mother, father and grandmother were also initially charged over his death, but they were found not guilty and acquitted.
Mr Xiao has been in prison since his arrest in 2017 but has long rejected criticism that his techniques endanger lives.
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