This was published 4 years ago
And that’s it for another day with Markets Live.
Thanks for your comments and time.
The markets team will be back tomorrow.
Goodnight.
Get our wrap of the day on the markets, breaking business news and expert opinion delivered to your inbox each afternoon. Sign up for The Sydney Morning Herald‘s here and The Age’s here.
Fresh gains in oil prices and weak US futures dragged the ASX down from a two-month high on Monday morning to close slightly lower.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.2 per cent to 7278.5 points, a fall of 15.9 points. It rose as much as 0.8 per cent at the open. The ASX200 is down 2.2 per cent so far this quarter, but is out-performing the S&P500 in the US and the MSCI World Index, which are both down by about 6 per cent.
ASX trading volumes were modest at about 560 million compared to the past two weeks, which saw four days above 1 billion trades due to a “triple witching”, according to Saxo Markets’ Australian market strategist Jessica Amir. This included an S&P index rebalance, fund managers preparing for next week’s end of the March quarter, and expiring options.
“Those three things saw index volumes go through the roof,″ she explained.
Hamish Douglass’ resignation from the board of Magellan Financial Group might appear like a bit of corporate housekeeping but the move is far more significant.
At the very least it signals that Australia’s highest-profile fund manager isn’t returning to executive duties anytime soon. And even if he walks through the glass doors again he won’t return to business as usual.
Investors smell uncertainty and it is rattling them. Magellan’s share price fell 2.7 per cent by mid-afternoon.
It is six weeks since Douglass spectacularly announced he was taking medical leave for an unspecified time as he struggled to deal with the intense focus around his personal life and the performance of the funds he oversaw as Magellan’s chief investment officer.
Australia’s largest energy producer Woodside continued to claim that gas produced from its biggest gas project would reduce global emissions despite the claim being undermined in research commissioned by the national science agency.
A report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), obtained by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, found increasing Australian gas supply could prolong coal, displace renewables and increase emissions in Asia without a global carbon price.
Despite this, Woodside claimed in its environmental application for the Scarborough project that increasing gas exports would reduce emissions in Asia, an argument repeated by the state and federal governments as justification for expanding domestic gas production.
Australia’s largest airline, Qantas, has announced - with minimal explanation - that it will release a line of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the middle of the year.
In a tweet earlier today, Qantas said interested parties could sign up on the company’s website to get further information about its future line of NFTs, which the company is promoting as its “next collection of memorabilia”.
Blockchain-based digital tokens are a far cry from the company’s current range of memorabilia, which includes model planes, mugs, and hats, however the digital alternatives will come with additional perks which allow their owners to earn Qantas’ Frequent Flyer points.
“Using blockchain technology, each piece of digital artwork will be one-of-a-kind allowing you to buy, own, collect and sell your unique tokens,” the company said.
No buy now, pay later (BNPL) operator has made money from the digital reinvention of lay-buy, but boy does it continue to be popular.
RBC Capital cites a 2022 global payments report from FIS showing that BNPL as a payment method has grown to 2.9 per cent of global e-commerce spending in 2021 compared to 2.1 per cent in 2020 and 1.6 per cent in 2019.
RBC’s US analyst Daniel Perlin says BNPL is expected to grow at around a 30 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
“We believe this data reflects strong momentum in BNPL’s global adoption and demonstrates the secular growth tailwinds for this payment method,” Perlin says.
An ASX-listed tech minnow that has just re-built its operations around cheap Ukrainian labour says it has safely moved most team members out of the conflict zone. While three staff members were stuck in eastern regions on 25 February, their projects were redistributed.
This morning, engage:BDR, which uses the ticker EN1, confirmed its monetisation platform Adcel still has backend engineering employees in Russia and Belarus, but it “is legally able to retain these staff members” despite sanctions being placed on both countries. The bulk of its engineering team is based in Russia and Belarus.
“News reports appear to show that russia (sic) has struck near the Polish border, Adcel’s operations have not materially changed as a result of the new russian (sic) activity,” engage:BDR told shareholders this morning.
“For the past two weeks, Management has been moving all remaining operations from the Ukraine to other parts of Europe. Most team members across Ukraine have been relocated to Western Ukraine (which is the safest part of Ukraine, close to Poland and other parts of Europe).”
Was this Liu He’s “Draghi Moment?” The intervention of China’s vice premier and Xi Jinping’s senior economics adviser arrested the implosion occurring in China’s financial markets last week, just as Mario Draghi’s 2012 pledge that the European Central Bank would do “whatever it takes” saved the eurozone from a financial calamity.
With China’s sharemarkets tanking amid a massive exodus of foreign capital, Liu foreshadowed “concrete actions” taken to bolster China’s economy, with monetary policy at the forefront.
He talked down fears of an imminent delisting of Chinese companies from US stock exchanges, talked up support for China’s beleaguered property developers and indicated that the crackdown on China’s big technology companies would end soon. Regional pilots for a proposed new property tax would be shelved.
The CSI300 index of China’s major companies had slumped almost 14 per cent in the first two weeks of this month. After Liu’s mid-week intervention it bounced 7 per cent. The Golden Dragon index of Chinese companies listed in the US had been down 36 per cent this month but soared 43 per cent late last week. It remains, however, more than 50 per cent below its levels a year ago.
Logistics group Qube Holdings this morning announced a $400 million off-market share buyback program that will be completed before the financial year ends on 30 June this year.
The $5.8 billion Qube says the buyback price received by participating shareholders will comprise the following:
a) a capital component of $1.61 per share; and
b) a fully franked deemed dividend equal to the Buy-Back Price less $1.61 per share
Embattled Chinese real estate developer China Evergrande Group along with its other units suspended trading in Hong Kong Monday morning, according to exchange filings.
Shares of Evergrande Property Services Group and China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group were also halted without giving any reasons.
The pause comes after Shenzhen-based Evergrande said in January that it aimed to present a preliminary restructuring proposal in the next six months. The firm has been at the centre of a cash crisis among Chinese property developers following Beijing’s crackdown.
Investors are watching for signs of further asset sales as the group faces pressure from bondholders and offshore creditors in what’s likely to become one of China’s largest restructurings. The company has more than $300 billion in liabilities and is under pressure to pay suppliers and migrant workers and complete millions of unfinished homes.