The Australian share market closed higher on Monday, as investors reacted to the reopening of international borders and AGL rejected a takeover bid from Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.
The benchmark ASX 200 index added 0.1 per cent to close at 7,233. The broader All Ordinaries finished flat at 7,507.
The Australian dollar was up by half a per cent and buying 72.11 US cents.
Tech and healthcare were the strongest sectors in early afternoon trading.
AGL stocks soared 11.8 per cent after announcing its board had rejected a takeover offer from Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canada's Brookfield Asset Management.
AGL said the unsolicited bid of $7.50 a share undervalued the company.
"The proposal does not offer an adequate premium for a change of control and is not in the best interests of AGL Energy shareholders," AGL Chairman Peter Botten said.
Mr Botten said the cash proposal, with an option for AGL shareholders to elect a scrip alternative, also provided limited information about how the deal would be structured.
AGL is pushing ahead with its demerger plans to separate its retail business from its energy-producing business, which includes coal-fired power plants.
"The board is confident that the demerger will create a strong future for both parts of the business," Mr Botten said.
The offer from Mr Cannon-Brookes, who wants to buy the energy company and bring forward the closure of its coal-fired power assets to 2030, is unlikely to be his last.
Mr Cannon-Brookfield recently bought electricity transmission company, Ausnet.
It was also a positive day for BWS and Dan Murphy's owner Endeavour Group, which added 10.3 per cent.
The company, which is also one of Australia's biggest poker machine operators, delivered a profit of 15.6 per cent at $311 million thanks to an increase in people drinking at home due to COVID-19 restrictions.
A2 Milk Company added 11.3 per cent, Chorus Limited rose 9.9 per cent and Challenger gained 5 per cent.
Tyro Payments stocks plummeted 26 per cent after the company's half-year profit tumbled 430 per cent to a loss of $18.1m.
Pointsbet Holdings lost 11.11 per cent, Super Retail Group rose 9.5 per cent, Zip Co dropped 7.8 per cent, and Polynovo fell 7.1 per cent.
Head of Investments and Capital Markets at VanEck, Russel Chesler, said travel, entertainment, entertainment, education, retail and consumer discretionary stocks could gain ground and outperform in the coming weeks as investors react to open borders.
"More international tourism, combined with the easing of other social restrictions in Australian states will crucially help the hospitality and leisure sector, as there will be more people going out to visit restaurants and hotels and seek other forms of entertainment," he said.
