That’s all from us today.
Thanks for your time and your comments. If anyone is watching the Budget at 7.30pm there are a few Bingo cards floating around on Twitter.
Good night.
Good night
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This was published 3 years ago
As it happened: ASX up 0.7% to 7464.3 in sixth day of gains
Summary
- The S&P/ASX 200 closed 51.9 points higher, up 0.7%, to 7464.3 points, the sixth straight day of gains.
- Wall Street futures are mixed with the Nasdaq mini down 0.1%, but the Dow Jones and S&P500 minis up 0.1%. Overnight the Nasdaq staged a late rally to close 1.3% higher, the S&P500 gained 0.7%, and the Dow Jones gained 0.3%.
- Oil prices continue to decline in Asian trade. Brent crude is down 1.6 per cent to a one-week low of $US110.74 per barrel and US crude is down 1.5 per cent to $US104.48 per barrel.
- The Aussie dollar has eased back to US74.95 cents after reaching a four-month high on Monday.
Slater & Gordon launches class action against Star Entertainment
By Lucy Battersby
Slater and Gordon this afternoon filed a class action in the Victorian Supreme Court against Star Entertainment Group, alleging misleading representations about the casino group’s compliance with regulatory obligations.
The case covers investors who have bought shares in the past six years. In that time the share prices has been as high as $6.38, but closed at $3.26 today.
“The detailed 108-page statement of claim outlines that Star has continually held itself out as an ethical and responsible casino operator that complied with its legal and regulatory obligations,” the law firm said in a press release this afternoon.
It cited the 25 per cent drop in the share price in October 2021, following reports Star had “cultivated high-roller players who were allegedly associated with criminal or foreign-influence operations”.
However, the biggest share price drop occurred during the March 2020 rout, when Star’s share price 63 per cent in five days. The stock price still has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
More to come
ASX rises to new ten-week high
By Lucy Battersby
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 has gained 0.7 per cent on Tuesday, closing 51.9 points higher at 7464.3 points. It held onto positive momentum all day, but volumes were modest as traders waited for the Budget.
Information technology and consumer discretionary outperformed, with IDP Education, Flight Centre, Aristocrat Leisure, and Wesfarmers all putting in strong performances.
Biggest gains
- Telix Pharmaceuticals up 9.9%
- Magellan Financial up 7.1%
- Block Inc up 6.8%
- Appen up 6.7%
- PolyNovo up 6.6%
Biggest declines
- Whitehaven Coal down 4.3%
- GrainCorp down 2.6%
- Worley down 2.4%
- Iluka Resources down 2.3%
- Beach Energy down 2.1%
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Fisher & Paykel Healthcare back to where it was before COVID-19
By Lucy Battersby
In the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, shares in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare entirely avoided the sharp sell-off, instead jumping as demand surged for respirators for patients afflicted by the new virus. Shares jumped from $15.96 in October 2019 to $34.92 in July 2020.
But as deaths from COVID decline from a peak of 15,000 per day in mid-2021 to around 3,000 per day currently, so too has demand for Fisher & Paykel’s products and its stock price.
After issuing a profit warning last week, shares have dropped 15 per cent from $26 to a two-year low of $21.68 today.
Demanding MIRA kicked out of Uniti bidding
By Lucy Battersby
Uniti Group hit an all-time high of $4.92 this morning despite brushing off a competing offer from a Macquarie Group consortium with excessively demanding conditions.
The demands include full access to due diligence, despite Macquarie partially owning Uniti’s main competitor, Vocus.
Uniti shares have since softened to be 1 per cent lower at $4.68 in afternoon trade.
A bidding war started for Uniti Group on 15 March, when it revealed a $4.50 per share takeover offer from New Zealand-based Morrison & Co.
Brent oil going to $95: UBS
By Emma Koehn
UBS is raising its oil price forecasts: Analyst Tom Allen writes in a note to clients today that the team is forecasting $95/barrel for 2022.
The 2023 price has been hiked from a forecast $80 to $85. “Changes are primarily driven by assumptions relating to the Russia/Ukraine war (Russian production cut by 2Mb/d near term & higher geopolitical risk premiums),” Allen wrote in the note.
UBS believes that the rise of oil and gas prices over the next two years will translate to revenue gains of between 4 per cent and 28 per cent for Australian companies.
In this environment, its team have cut Woodside to neutral because its share price is nearing full value. Woodside shares have dropped 0.9 per cent throughout the session to sit at $32.86 at 12:10pm.
Allen said that Santos has the most upside on offer, with the team lifting earnings forecasts by 13-33 per cent to factor in rising oil and gas prices.
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One-off $250 payment expected in tonight’s budget
By Angus Thompson
A one-off $250 payment is expected to be among the budget sweeteners announced by the federal government later today as the Coalition focuses on easing cost-of-living pressures.
The payment is suspected to be made available to low-to-middle income earners, and reportedly in lieu of an extension to the $1080 tax offset, however this has not been confirmed.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has spruiked “temporary, targeted measures to relieve cost-of-living pressures” ahead of tonight’s budget speech.
“There are real pressures right now on Australians. It’s the number one topic around the kitchen tables,” Mr Frydenberg told media this morning.
Ampol, Viva pledge to target fuel excise relief as ‘soon as feasible’
By Nick Toscano and Jackson Graham
Large Australian fuel companies Ampol and Viva Energy have vowed to work with the federal government to ensure consumers can quickly benefit from the proposed cut to the 44¢ fuel excise in Tuesday night’s budget.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg have agreed to temporarily reduce fuel excise – a flat sales tax on petrol and diesel for constructing and maintaining road infrastructure – in a bid to help combat cost-of-living pressures that have intensified since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The government’s excise change, expected to be unveiled on Tuesday evening, comes as Australian motorists have been facing record-high unleaded petrol prices above $2.20 a litre after crude oil shot past the $US100-a-barrel mark for the first time since 2014.
Ampol, the $7 billion listed petrol-station operator and owner of Brisbane’s Lytton oil refinery, said rising fuel prices in Australia were directly linked with the higher cost of oil.
“Excise is one component of retail fuel costs which is set by the federal government,” a company spokesman said. “Should a change to fuel excise be announced in the budget, Ampol will work with the federal government to ensure it benefits consumers as intended as soon as feasible.”
Midday wrap: CSL up, miners down as market gains 0.9 per cent
By Emma Koehn
The ASX200 is ahead 0.9 per cent just after midday with blue chip stocks including CSL and Wesfarmers doing most of the heavy lifting.
The index was sitting at 7,480.4 at 12:15pm.
CSL was up 1.2 per cent to $264.94 at 12:10pm, while Square gained just over 7 per cent to $183.50. There was no news posted from the payments and buy now, pay later operator, though the surging price of Bitcoin may have assisted with sentiment.
Wesfarmers shares were 2.2 per cent higher to $50.82, while ventilator maker ResMed posted gains of 3.7 per cent throughout the morning to $32.43.
Mining stocks had a tougher morning, with BHP down 0.2 per cent to $50.81. Woodside was 1 per cent lower to $32.85, while Santos lost 0.4 per cent to $7.90.
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New API owner no worry for Sigma boss
By Emma Koehn
The incoming chief executive of pharmacy wholesaler Sigma says he’s not concerned about Wesfarmers’ looming takeover of major competitor Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API).
Vikesh Ramsunder took the helm of the business last month after long-serving chief executive Mark Hopper departed Sigma after 10 years in the role.
Ramsunder had been group chief executive of South African retailer Clicks Group.
Sigma swung to a $7.2 million loss for the full financial year, but Ramsunder said the company now had a state-of-the-art distribution system in place and was ready for growth.
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