The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed Wall Street's lead and is trading lower on Monday. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 0.3% to 8,590.3 points.
Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are rising:
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Lifestyle Communities Ltd (ASX: LIC)
The Lifestyle Communities share price is up 2% to $5.43. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Citi. According to the note, the broker has upgraded the retirement communities company's shares to a buy rating with a $5.60 price target. The broker notes that Hometown Australia recently bought a 9.8% stake in the company. It highlights that the $58.46 million deal was undertaken at a premium to the prevailing share price. Citi suspects that this could lead to increased M&A speculation.
Perpetual Ltd (ASX: PPT)
The Perpetual share price is up almost 2.5% to $16.61. Investors have been bidding the financial services company's shares higher after it announced the sale of its Wealth Management business to Bain Capital for an upfront consideration of $500 million. Perpetual's CEO and managing director, Bernard Reilly, said: "Following a thorough sale process, we believe we have achieved the right outcome for our shareholders, clients and people, and one that reflects Wealth Management's longstanding reputation as a premium provider of high net worth advisory, fiduciary, philanthropic and not-for-profit offerings in the Australian market." Perpetual expects to use sale proceeds to pay down debt and fund further growth in its core Asset Management and Corporate Trust businesses.
Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC)
The Reliance Worldwide share price is up 4.5% to $3.05. This morning, this plumbing parts company announced that it will undertake a further on-market share buy-back targeting $120 million. The company's chair, Russell Chenu, said: "RWC has continued to generate strong cash flows over the past two years despite subdued end markets. This has enabled us to substantially reduce net debt. Consequently, RWC's leverage ratio has fallen below the bottom end of our target range of 1.5 time to 2.5 times net debt to EBITDA. Undertaking this additional share buy-back will enable us to return excess capital to shareholders efficiently and is consistent with our previously articulated capital management strategy."
Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS)
The Woodside Energy share price is up over 2% to $31.77. This has been driven by a rise in oil prices due to supply disruptions caused by war in the Middle East. It isn't just Woodside that is rising today. The S&P/ASX 200 Energy index is up almost 1% at the time of writing.
