ASX ends flat; Nine soars, CSL tumbles
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended flat after a mixed trading day which saw a drag from the healthcare sector, led by CSL, and gains from gold miners.
The benchmark ASX 200 gained 0.01% to end at 8,484, with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
Biggest ASX 200 winners:
- Nine Entertainment (14.01%) — The media company’s shares soared after a jump in Seven West Media (6.06%) shares as it guided for a return to revenue and earnings growth in the second half.
- Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (8.53%) — Increased its full-year distribution guidance and its half-year statutory earnings swung positive to $31 million.
- SGH (6.15%) — Reaffirmed full-year earnings guidance after a solid first-half performance at its industrial services businesses.
- Gold miners — Evolution Mining (4.89%), Northern Star Minerals (4.04%), De Grey Mining (3.88%), Newmont (3.17%) and Westgold Resources (2.87%) all gained as gold rallied towards USD3,000 ($4,790) an ounce.
Biggest ASX 200 fallers:
- Lithium miners — Liontown Resources (-9.09%), Mineral Resources (-6.93%) and IGO (-4.29%) all fell after after China's Contemporary Amperex Technology and Jiangsu Lopal Tech announced they are restarting their lithium carbonate refinery after a five-month halt.
- CSL (-4.95%) — Had a mixed trading day after posting weaker-than-expected half-year results as its vaccine business was negatively impacted by significantly low influenza immunisation rates, particularly in the US.
- Clarity Pharmaceuticals (-4.95%) — Announced a new treatment in its pipeline for breast cancer.
Earnings news:
- VGI Partners (4%) — Posted a $61.9 million operating loss before tax, in a half marred by poor performance.
- Macquarie Group (1.6%) — Reported a softer-than-expected third-quarter result as its commodities and global markets (CGM), and Macquarie Capital arms' net profit contribution was substantially lower.
- Ramsay Health Care (1.43%) — Flagged it no longer expects to report profit growth during FY25 after recognising a $291 million impairment on its UK operations.
- Breville (-2.2%) — Lifted its first-half profit and dividend but warned of slower earnings growth in the second half amid the potential impact of US trade policies.
- Region Group (-2.29%) — Recorded net profit after tax of $81.8 million for the first half of FY25, swinging from a loss in the prior corresponding period.
Other news:
- Light & Wonder (2.4%) — Secured new revolving credit commitments of USD1 billion ($1.59 billion).
- Orora (1.32%) — Morgan Stanley resumed coverage on the stock with an 'overweight' rating.
- Fortescue (-1.55%) — Its takeover bid for Red Hawk Mining is now unconditional after increasing its voting power in the small cap to over 87%.
- Domino’s (-3.53%) — Morningstar reduced its FY25 earnings and dividends estimates on the pizza chain.
The Australian dollar is buying 62.76 US cents.
What’s ahead: Overnight will see US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell front at a senate committee meeting.
Wednesday’s earnings results include AGL, Commonwealth Bank, Computershare, Evolution Mining and Suncorp.
