This was published 4 years ago
That’s it from the Markets Live team today. Thanks for your company, and for your comments.
Colin Kruger and Lucy Battersby are back in the morning. We’ll have earnings from Ansell, Bingo, Boral, Kogan, Seek and Scentre Group.
See you then.
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.
Australia’s benchmark index ended a five-day decline to close higher on Monday, but still faced a rocky reporting season as companies struggled with medium-term forecasts.
Reliance Worldwide delivered strong results, but no guidance, closing 1.5 per cent lower.
Health insurer nib dropped 11 per cent after warning about catch-up claims once lockdowns were lifted.
Markets were likely to be jittery this week as central bankers converge on for their annual Jackson Hole conference later this week.
The Australian sharemarket halted a five-day slide on Monday, chasing Wall Street higher with a 0.4 per cent rise.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed at 7489.9, with only the consumer staples and energy sectors in the red.
BHP rose 0.3 per cent to close at $44.46 and end its run of losses, while Commonwealth Bank also outperformed with a 0.9 per cent rise to $100.17.
Of the companies to report earnings today, nib Holdings lost 11 per cent to $7.10, and Sonic fell 2.8 per cent to $41.65.
Opinion
Confirmation that iron ore baron-turned environmentalist/animal welfare crusader Andrew Forrest was an underbidder for listed Tasmanian salmon farmer Huon, puts a different hue on the outspoken billionaire’s attempts to block fellow bidder JBS from buying the aquaculture group.
If one strips out the public relations blitz and the media campaign that Forrest is running to ‘out’ the Brazilian meat processor JBS, for what Forrest insists is its woeful animal welfare practices, the battle between Forrest and JBS looks more like a classic takeover play and Forrest is firing green bullets.
Before Forrest launched his attack on JBS, the Brazilian behemoth’s troubled record on animal husbandry, the fact that it’s major shareholders had done jail time for bribery and corruption of Brazilian officials, the fact it had settled a class action in the US on price fixing and the Australian tax investigations were not really on anyone’s radar.
Australia’s medicines regulator has outlined tough advertising rules for suppliers of rapid antigen COVID-19 tests, including requirements to highlight that a negative test result does not guarantee a person is free of the coronavirus.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has also warned biotechnology companies that they must also make it clear when advertising rapid antigen products that they cannot be used at home, while any individual who tests positive must be referred immediately for a PCR test to confirm their infection.
“While COVID-19 rapid antigen tests are an important supplementary screening tool for use in efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, they are not equivalent to PCR testing which is the gold standard test used in managing outbreak,” the regulator said in guidance to suppliers.
“The following statement must be included in the advertisement: ‘negative test results do not exclude infection with COVID-19 (so face masks, social distancing and good hygiene practice must be maintained).’”
The advertising rules apply to any communications about the tests that may be consumed by the public, like information about products contained on a company’s website.
Asian shares rose Monday as investor sentiment received a big boost from the rally last week on Wall Street, despite worries about the more contagious coronavirus delta variant not only in the region but across the world.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.7 per cent to 27,476.54 in morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.3 per cent to 3,101.19.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.4 per cent to 25,441.00, while the Shanghai Composite added 1.1 per cent to 3,465.35.
“Asia markets are set for a steady open,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore, adding that the central bank in South Korea may the first in the region to raise interest rates “amid growing inflationary pressures and a robust export-led economic recovery.”
Michael Hill International added some bling to the All Ords today as investors cheered a result that featured a 15-fold increase in full-year profit and a record dividend.
Shares in the shopping mall jeweller were up 4.2 per cent at 86¢ on Monday, even after it reported new financial year sales had been hurt by rolling COVID lockdowns.
Michael Hill reported profit of $45.3 million in the year to June 30 - up from $3.1 million - thanks to a 13.1 per cent revenue boost to $556.5 million. This was just under expectations of a $46.9 million profit from a $559.7 million in revenue.
The full-year results included another $14.6 million in government wage subsidies across Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, with the company having claimed $17.7 million the year before.
Telstra shares hit $4.025 at the market open this morning, which takes the stock to the highest trading price since August 2017. It just sneaked past the $4.01 recording in mid-2019.
The share price did not stay that high for very long, falling down to $3.96 by midday, but has been climbing higher this afternoon and was last at $4 flat.
Telstra goes ex-dividend this Wednesday. It is pay 8¢, which includes a 3¢ special dividend.
The incumbent telco is one of 25 companies to hit at least a one-year-high today. There are also two gold miners at one-year-lows - St Barbara at $1.53 and Westgold at $1.64.
Among today’s highs is Aristocrat Leisure at $44.59, Amcor at $17.90, ARB at $51.75 and Carsales.com at $25.39.
Bitcoin topped the closely watched $US50,000 level again in an ongoing recovery in the cryptocurrency market from a disorderly rout just three months ago.
The largest virtual coin advanced as much as 3.5 per cent to almost $US50,093 ($69,790) in Asian trading Monday. Ethereum was up 2 per cent to $US3,324 and Cardano’s ADA also rose.
Bitcoin was last above $US50,000 in mid-May.
The revival in virtual currencies has excited animal spirits again among the crypto faithful, putting longer term predictions of $US100,000 or more for Bitcoin back in vogue. Others see the speculative, volatile asset carving out a wider trading range for now.
Opinion
Last week’s jitters in financial markets after the release of the US Federal Reserve Board minutes of its July meeting provide a volatile backdrop to this week’s annual Jackson Hole conference of the world’s central bankers.
Sharemarkets around the world wobbled, bond yields slid, the US dollar strengthened and commodity prices slumped after the release of the minutes, which showed that a majority of the members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee were prepared to start “tapering” or reducing, the Fed’s $US120 billion ($168 billion) a month of bond and mortgage purchases later this year.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on Friday at the conference that starts Thursday and ends Saturday – a conference that thanks to COVID-19 will be virtual – with a lot of expectation but little certainty that he will talk about the timing and rate of a phasing out of the quantitative easing the US central bank in response to the initial outbreak of the pandemic last year.
If he doesn’t address the elephant in the virtual room on Friday, the next opportunity to detail the Fed’s plans to evolve US monetary policy will come at the Fed’s next meeting towards the end of September, which would leave the markets in a continuing state of uncertainty for at least another month.