As it happened: Brittany Higgins set to return to the stand in Lehrmann trial; Victoria, Tasmania and NSW brace for second day of flooding

Friday’s decision provides greater clarity to the market, because it means most of the appeals have now reached the end of the road, and a previous Federal Court ruling from February will stand.

Jarden analyst Kieran Chidgey said the net effect of Friday’s decision was positive for insurance companies, as there were likely to be fewer viable claims than expected.

“One would expect this would lead to a reduction in business interruption related reserve provisions,” Chidgey said. “There will still be valid claims and significant uncertainty around this, and potential for class actions.”

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The laggards: Pilbara Minerals fell by 5.9 per cent; Harvey Norman shed 3.9 per cent; and St Barbara Ltd was down 3.3 per cent.

The lowdown: The Australian sharemarket added more than $30 billion in value on Friday after Wall Street staged its biggest on day comeback in years, roaring back from steep morning losses caused by a worse-than-expected report on inflation.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 tanked 2.4 per cent its lowest level in nearly two years in response to the US core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, hitting a 40-year-high. It then rebounded – inexplicably to some – to finish 2.6 per cent higher as some investors cashed in on short positions.

“You had $10 billion of options put on the market last week, essentially betting that this would occur,” said Saxo Australian market strategist Jessica Amir. “They bet the market would go down. It did, so they made a profit, and then they wanted to lock that in.”

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“The lessons from the Ukraine war are that we use missile stocks [and] particularly guided weapons very fast in a conflict,” Conroy said.

“And quite frankly we need more missiles in Australia, both as a stock and also the ability to maintain, repair and upgrade those missiles.”

Under a process launched by the previous government, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon will soon report back on opportunities for Australia to manufacture parts or entire missiles.

“I’m confident that at the end of this process we will have a much more sovereign capability to manufacture and upgrade missiles which are so important,” Conroy said.

The US government announced earlier this year it had approved a sale to Australia of Lockheed Martin’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System for $545 million, which has played a crucial role in Ukraine’s military success against Russia.

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But the state’s booming property sector and tight jobs market also helped pad out the bottom line. The figures show Victoria’s tax take in 2021-22 was $483 million higher than expected in the May budget – the result of soaring stamp duty revenue and payroll tax collections.

Treasurer Tim Pallas said the government support provided to families and businesses during the pandemic meant the state economy was in the best shape possible to “really bounce back” after the worst of the pandemic had passed.

“The jobs market is strong, businesses are confident and the state’s financial results have improved from the forecasts that were updated just five months ago,” Pallas said.

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Electric Vehicle Council spokesman Dr Jake Whitehead said while progress is welcome, Australia remains well behind many countries for EV sales and policy.

“To put our 3.4 per cent (EV sales) in context – Germany sits at 26 per cent, the UK at 19 per cent, and California at 13 per cent. The global average is 8.6 per cent,” Whitehead said.

“Because our governments have lagged the world on EV policy, Australia is still something of an afterthought for global EV manufacturers.

“Australian consumers have a smaller range of EVs to choose from and they are also being forced to wait for many months or even years to take delivery of new vehicles.”

If Australia did not introduce fuel efficiency standards on par with the EU and the US we would continue to lag the world by a huge margin, Whitehead said.