ASX ends flat; Pro Medicus jumps
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The news: The Australian sharemarket bounced back after Monday’s selloff as the Trump administration delayed tariffs for Mexico and Canada, but it ended the day flat in a late selloff after the deadline for a compromise between China and the US on tariffs passed.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.06% to end at 8,374 with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
Biggest movers:
- Pro Medicus (5.18%) — Signed a $53 million contract with Florida-based health care system BayCare that will see the rollout of its Visage products at 16 hospitals.
- Tech sector (1.52%) — Was the best performing sector, tracking Wall Street gains, with Megaport (3.95%), Siteminder (3.58%) and Wisetech Global (3.6%) part of the top 10 best performers across the ASX 200.
- Gold miners — Vault Minerals (5.2%), Westgold (3.54%), and Gold Road Resources (2.41%) were among the top 10 best performers across the ASX 200 as bullion rose due to uncertainty regarding the Trump tariffs, leading to investors buying up the safe haven asset class.
- Audinate Group (-4.51%) — Morgan Stanley analysts cut their price target on the stock but kept their ‘overweight’ rating on the company.
Deals:
- Fortescue (1.8%) — Secured a majority stake in acquisition target Red Hawk Mining, with the ASX small cap's largest shareholder Todd Corporation accepting its $254 million takeover offer.
- Seek (ended flat) — Its proposed takeover of HR platform Xref (-22.58%) fell through after the acquisition target's shareholders voted down the move.
Other news:
- Nufarm (3.37%) — Flagged that demand for its crop protection products has been strong so far in FY25 while its cost saving and inventory reduction initiatives remain on track.
- Magellan (0.53%) — Clawed back some losses after a three-day selloff despite Morningstar analysts cutting its fair value estimate on the stock as it forecasts $8 billion in outflows within its infrastructure strategy.
- Westpac (-0.15%) — Named CBA executive Paul Fowler as the new head of its business and wealth division.
- DigiCo REIT (-0.67%) — Macquarie initiated its coverage on the data centre owner and developer with an 'outperform' rating.
- Nine Entertainment (-1.91%) — UBS analysts downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ while News Corp (1.83%) gained after it was upgraded to ‘buy’.
The Australian dollar is buying 61.88 US cents.
What’s ahead: Overnight will see Spotify release its Q4 results, and the latest US job opening data will be published.
Wednesday morning will see other US quarterly earnings released, including Alphabet and Snap.
Locally, Amcor, BWP Trust, and Centuria Office REIT will post their half-year earnings.
