ASX ends higher; Karoon rallies, Zip plunges
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket ended higher, extending Wednesday’s rally following inflation data that gave the last of the big four banks, NAB, enough confidence to believe that there will be a rate cut in February.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.55% to end at 8,493.7, with all 11 sectors finishing in green. The index also hit a new intraday high of 8,515.7.
Biggest movers:
- Karoon Energy (7.72%) — Reported a rise in calendar-year production and sales revenue, and announced plans for a $120 million buyback.
- Zip (-25.38%) — Reported lower-than-expected growth in second quarter cash earnings but posted strong US performance.
Other news:
- Treasury Wine (2.87%) — Analysts reiterated positive ratings on the stock after new data showed growth in local exports to China during 2024.
- Lovisa (-1.13%) — Announced it will defend class action litigation against the company over alleged underpayment of staff.
- Magellan Financial Group (-8.3%) — Its long-serving head of investments and infrastructure lead Gerald Stack will depart in July while portfolio manager Nikki Thomas has stepped down from managing two funds to focus solely on its high conviction strategy.
Earnings:
- Perpetual (-0.23%) — Reported a 3.6% rise in assets under management during the December quarter, despite most of its boutiques posting outflows.
- Nickel Industries (-0.88%) — Flagged that its EBITDA tumbled in the December quarter as the miner’s Hengjaya mine in Indonesia reached its annual sales quota.
- Sandfire Resources (-1.23%) — Reiterated its full-year production guidance but its Q2 copper output missed expectations.
- Mineral Resources (-1.19%) — Reiterated full-year guidance but mining services volumes missed consensus forecasts.
- IGO (-1.75%) — Its Q2 EBITDA and free cash flow came in softer than market estimates.
- Appen (-4.58%) — Reported a year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue.
- Credit Corp (-12.56%) — Swung back to a first-half profit but analysts were disappointed in the debt collector’s softer collection trends.
The Australian dollar is buying 62.23 US cents.
What’s ahead:
- Offshore economics: Overnight will see the latest US quarterly GDP figures along with unemployment claims while the European Central Bank making its latest interest rate decision which is widely expected to be a 25 basis point cut.
- US earnings: Friday morning will see Apple and Atlassian post their latest earnings.
- Earnings: Origin, ResMed, Sayona and Dubber will post their earnings on Friday.
