The ASX 200 finished higher by 0.37% today, with the Tech sector the only sector in the red, falling almost 3%.

Buy-now-pay-later  (BNPL) headlined today’s trading, with the likes of ASX BNPL stocks such as Afterpay (ASX:APT), Zip Co (ASX:Z1P), and Sezzle (ASX:SZL) plunging by around 10% each.

The selloff was triggered by news overnight that Apple was planning on partnering with banking heavyweight Goldman Sachs to develop a BNPL option for its customers.

Although Apple declined to comment, it’s clear the company wants to expand its current Apple Card offering into a bigger financial services product that utilises its Wallet app.

But the bigger news affecting today’s price moves was the launching of Paypal’s “Pay in 4” BNPL instalment option in Australia, effective today.

The Pay-in-4 offering will do away with late fees charges, putting pressure on Afterpay’s revenue model, which made $70 million last year on these fees.

Paypal has said that people who miss a payment do so “by mistake, not by design.”

The competition from Paypal, with its 9 million Australian customers,  is said to be the biggest threat to Australia’s emerging BNPL sector, which has so far grown rapidly in the absence of oversight.

TOP 25 BIG CAP WINNERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

Spark Infrastructure (ASX:SKI) is in a trading halt after rising by 7% on no news.

Macquarie Telecom (ASX: MAQ) rose by 14% after saying that it has lodged a State Significant Development Application to build a new data centre at the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus, within the Sydney North Zone.

Seven Group (ASX:SVH) rose by 4% after acquiring 48.41% of Boral (ASX:BLD) shares. The company needs a 50% stake by 7pm tomorrow if its takeover of Boral is to be successful.

 

TOP 25 BIG CAP LOSERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

 

Read MoreMarkets

Featured Companies

You might be interested in