News

While all the headlines are dedicated to the ballooning budget deficit, tax cuts and a departure from the traditional “balance the budget” approach of the Coalition, there were a number of positive takeaways for both older and younger Australians. The announcements have increased the flexibility and attractiveness of both the superannuation and self-managed super fund…

ASX hit as US rattled, Boral takeover offer, Rex clarifies misstatement  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) followed a global lead lower, falling 1.1% at the open and remaining in negative territory throughout the day. The IT sector was the hardest hit, falling 4.2%, and acting very much like a leveraged proxy for the US Nasdaq index. The key detractors were Afterpay (ASX:APT) and Zip…

ASX joins the record breaking party, A2 Milk drained, Crowning the Star  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) finally joined the global party hitting an all-time high of 7,172 points on Monday. The list of constituents trading at similar records also continues to grow, with both BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) up +3.1% and 4.6% respectively, hitting their own all-time highs today as…

OpenMarkets Group (OMG) is readying itself for an ASX listing following an announcement this week that it had made a series of board level appointments. “Major appointments include Naseema Sparks AM as chairman; Andrew Rutherford and Paul Rayson as non-executive directors; Bob Alexander as executive director and chief financial officer; and Phil Cussen as chief…

Another positive week, tech continues disappearing act, Macquarie delivers record profit  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) managed to deliver another positive week, adding 0.3% on Friday and 0.8% for the week. The news of the week was the Chinese Government ceasing high level discussions with Australian officials, but at the same time, their demand sends the iron ore price to a record above…

Market weakens on China tensions, local tech dumped, hot IPO market cooling The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) fell 0.5%, weakening throughout the day as news continued to worsen.  Initially, it was US payment giant PayPal (NYSE:PYPL) delivering a strong earnings result but announcing they would soon be bringing their BNPL offering to Australia in direct competition with Afterpay (ASX:APT). Shares in APT fell 7.0% and the IT…

ASX hits 14-month high, ANZ dividend surprise, Nearmap upgrades revenue guidance  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) reached a 14-month high, adding 0.4% and once again nearing a record. The primary driver was the healthcare sector, up 1.1%, with key constituent CSL (ASX:CSL) up 2.4% offering the majority of the support. Private hospital, imaging, and COVID-19 testing firm Healius (ASX:HLS) finished flat despite reporting…

ANZ Bank – 218% profit increase ANZ shares were lower after delivering a slight “miss” on earnings. ANZ’s cash profit rose 218%, to $2.99 billion, which came in at below expectations, but the dividend was better-than-expected. Management declared a 70 cents-a-share dividend, up from 25 cents a year ago, and just below the pre-pandemic final…

The value vs. growth debate has been played out in numerous ways for close to a decade. The results today are clear. Those who remained steadfastly invested in value stocks have significantly underperformed the benchmark and may well have left investors with less capital than the same time ten years ago. Traditional value stocks remain…

RBA holds rates, property lending boom, Seek upgrades guidance, retail recovery on track It was another green day on the market with the ASX200 (ASX:XJO) adding 0.5% on the back of the materials sector, with the gold price jumping significantly. Silverlake Resources (ASX:SLR) and Northern Star (ASX:NST) were among the biggest beneficiaries adding 7.9% and 4.0% respectively. The…

Bank rally not enough, Westpac hike dividend, job ads continue to surprise The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) rose just three points to begin the week, with a powerful day from the financials sector (+1.4%) which represents some 30% of the index not enough to overcome broader weakness. Energy and materials continue to detract amid signs that inflation is being…

The first quarter of 2021 saw renewed confidence in global equity markets, supported by positive developments in the fight against coronavirus together with better-than-expected economic data. Fiscal stimulus and vaccine rollout have far exceeded expectations, causing equity markets to overcome bouts of volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 indices hit new all-time…