ASX rises as gold miners rally; NewsCorp drops 6pc

The Australian sharemarket opened higher on Thursday after a record in the gold price paced a rally in mining stocks and a positive session on Wall Street.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.5 per cent, or by 40.2 points to 8885.9 at the start of trade, buoyed by a sharp rally in the materials sector. It also tracked an advance on Wall Street, when healthcare stocks paced S&P 500 to a record high that led it to close above 6700 points for the first time.
The materials sector was the best performing, up 1.5 per cent. It comes after gold reached a new all-time high as the US began a government shutdown on Wednesday (Thursday AEST ). Bullion rose to touch $US3895.38 an ounce, rallying for a fifth day.
Gold producers were among the best performers on the ASX 200, with Westgold up 4.2 per cent, Evolution adding 3.2 per cent, Northern Star climbing 2.6 per cent and Bellevue Gold rising 2.7 per cent.
Mining giants were also in the green as index heavyweight BHP jumped 1.6 per cent.
Locally, investors will be focused on the Reserve Bank of Australia's release of its latest Financial Stability Review at 11.30am.
There will also be reports on August household spending and the August goods trade balance. In a preview note, National Australia Bank said: "We expect household spending to be 0.3 per cent month-over-month higher in August, in line with consensus, as strength in Q2 durable goods retailing normalises and as the boost to hospitality spending in July rolls off to leave what should remain a solid underlying trend in Q3 consumption."
The US federal government shutdown has put a temporary halt on all official data prints, including Friday's anticipated September nonfarm payrolls report. However, US data from the private sector and the Federal Reserve will continue to be published.
Stocks in focus
In corporate moves, ARN Media says chief executive Ciaran Davis will step down from his position and has appointed chief operating officer Michael Stephenson as his replacement.
REA Group has bought a controlling stake in a Canadian company that does internal property imaging, in a clear response to the arrival of Domain's new US owner CoStar in Australia. The Murdoch family-controlled REA, which owns realestate.com.au, bought a 61.5 per cent stake in Planitar Inc, an Ontario-based company that built a camera platform called iGUIDE.
Shares were 0.4 per cent higher. Meanwhile, News Corp dropped 6 per cent.
Building products group James Hardie shares rallied 1.6 per cent after it defended its incentive packages for executives ahead of its annual meeting on October 30, as it outlined that the controversial $14 billion acquisition of Azek has a "short-term downward impact" on return on capital employed.

Sumber : AFR