Recap of the day's news:

Markets started the new week positively, hitting an 11-week high, with the ASX 200 gaining 51.5 pts or 0.73% to finish at 7,124.7. It was a risk-on type of day, with nine sectors finishing the day higher, led by Technology ( 1.90%) and Real Estate (1.55%), whilst Utilities (-2.52%) fell and Energy (-1.26%) stocks continued their recent downtrend.

The long-running proposed takeover of Origin Energy failed to garner enough votes for approval at a shareholder vote today. Only 66.97% of the shareholders voted in favour of the $20 billion deal, below the required 75% mark. Origin Energy's shares were trading 3.9% lower this morning, with the company going into a trading halt before the vote.

The price of Gold jumped more than 3% to above $US2,100 on Monday, hitting all-time highs amid growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at this month’s meeting and could start cutting rates next year. While the digital haven, Bitcoin crossed $US40,000 for the first time since April 2022, continuing its recent uptrend. Northern Star ( 3.7%), Evolution Mining ( 2.4%), Sandfire Resources ( 2.5%) and Perseus Mining ( 4.6%) were some of the gold miners that saw significant gains today.

Company News

• Aussie Broadband (ABB) raised ~$20 million from a Share Purchase Plan, which the company said was oversubscribed. The funds come in addition to the $120 million raised from institutional investors.
• Incitec Pivot (IPL) announced that it completed the sale of its ammonia manufacturing facility to CF Industries Holdings on December 1. Incitec plans to return up to $1.0 billion to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends.
• Liontown Resources (LTR) has secured an agreement with the Mid-West Ports Authority, which will facilitate the export of lithium spodumene concentrate from its Kathleen Valley project.
• Metcash (MTS) reported a 1.3% lift in revenue to $7.8 billion for the six months ending October, with statutory profit increasing by 12.2% to $141.0 million. Metcash declared a fully franked interim dividend of $0.11 per share.
• Mesoblast (MSB) announced a placement offer to raise $97.0 million at $0.30 per share - a 25.9% discount to the last closing price on November 30.
• Orora Ltd (ORA) confirmed that it completed the acquisition of French glassmaker Saverglass. Orora also announced the appointment of a new non-executive director, Claude-Alan Tordy, based in France.
• Tower Limited (TWR) - will undertake a strategic review of its ownership structure. Tower lists Bain Capital as a 20% stakeholder in the company.

Rest of the day's recap:

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