- The ASX tumbled by 1% today
- Iron ore futures fell as China imposes production lockdown
- Downer EDI crashes 22%
The ASX tracked Wall Street closely on Monday as it finished the day 1.3% lower.
The Mining sector lost over 3% today as sector giant BHP (ASX:BHP) fell 3% to a 3-month low on the back movement in iron ore futures in Singapore.
Iron ore futures fell after after Chinese officials imposed steel production restrictions in Tangshan to clear the skies ahead of major political meetings to be held in the city.
Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) meanwhile rose 1% after the company announced a US$5.23 billon full year profit for FY23, which was 223% higher than a year earlier. The company declared a final dividend of of $US1.44 a share.
The worst performing stock today was infrastructure services company Downer EDI (ASX:DOW), which crashed 22% after first half profits fell 20% on pcp to $68m and lower guidance.
Downer actually posted higher revenues for the half, but its bottom line was impacted by costs caused by labour shortage and unprecedented weather.
According to the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions) however, Australian corporate profits have surged by 10.6% in the quarter to December 2022, the biggest quarterly jump since the early days of the pandemic.
Some sectors with strong profit growth include: Mining: profits up by 11.6% , Electricity, gas and other utilities: up by 8.5% , Retail: up by 6.5%, and Financials: up by 22%.
“What we’re seeing is a greed-price spiral as corporate profits surge while wages stagnate. It is these profits off the back of excessive price rises that are pushing up inflation, not wages,” said ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus.
ABS data today did shows that Australia’s 4Q company profits jumped a seasonally-adjusted 10.6%, while wages and salaries only rise 2.6% seasonally adjusted.
Looking ahead to tonight’s session on Wall Street, we expect to see data release for US durable goods orders, and pending home sales.
BIG CAP WINNERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WBT | Weebit Nano Ltd | 7.41 | 7.47 | 1,865,539 | $1,196,385,491 |
| SNZ | Summerset Grp Hldgs | 8.60 | 4.88 | 251 | $1,903,358,531 |
| TPG | TPG Telecom Limited | 4.95 | 4.87 | 3,227,023 | $8,776,092,678 |
| PNV | Polynovo Limited | 2.32 | 4.50 | 1,509,786 | $1,530,873,707 |
| AX1 | Accent Group Ltd | 2.30 | 2.91 | 1,537,133 | $1,231,985,706 |
| CPU | Computershare Ltd | 25.02 | 2.63 | 1,631,784 | $14,718,921,212 |
| AMC | Amcor PLC | 16.90 | 2.11 | 2,139,537 | $10,791,790,359 |
| BFL | Bsp Financial Group | 5.20 | 1.96 | 43,570 | $2,382,821,893 |
| LFG | Liberty Fin Group | 3.82 | 1.87 | 61,703 | $1,138,500,000 |
| LNK | Link Admin Hldg | 2.20 | 1.85 | 878,643 | $1,108,052,959 |
| VNT | Ventiaservicesgroup | 2.36 | 1.72 | 5,145,763 | $1,984,723,912 |
| PTM | Platinum Asset | 1.86 | 1.64 | 1,378,895 | $1,073,622,387 |
| VUK | Virgin Money Uk PLC | 3.15 | 1.61 | 3,054,713 | $2,287,576,735 |
| HLI | Helia Group Limited | 3.33 | 1.52 | 1,894,712 | $1,139,624,923 |
| BGL | Bellevue Gold Ltd | 1.01 | 1.51 | 3,172,486 | $1,123,479,148 |
| WDS | Woodside Energy | 35.06 | 1.33 | 4,693,644 | $65,696,742,077 |
| QAN | Qantas Airways | 6.23 | 1.06 | 8,365,454 | $11,191,834,026 |
| WOR | Worley Limited | 15.43 | 1.02 | 468,087 | $8,017,677,836 |
Weebit Nano (ASX:WBT) rose 7% after the company initiated a series of investor roadshows.
BIG CAP LOSERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PWH | Pwr Holdings | 10.48 | -14.38 | 1,432,083 | $1,228,655,362 |
| SQ2 | Block | 113.01 | -7.44 | 164,096 | $3,807,838,195 |
| CIP | Centuria I REIT | 3.275 | -5.62 | 32,821,873 | $2,203,209,303 |
| NHC | New Hope Corporation | 5.215 | -5.53 | 8,546,673 | $4,870,127,513 |
| WHC | Whitehaven Coal | 7.565 | -4.96 | 16,535,147 | $7,078,447,202 |
| GQG | GQG Partners | 1.375 | -4.84 | 1,213,224 | $4,266,803,852 |
| XRO | Xero Ltd | 78.47 | -4.78 | 280,745 | $12,379,469,418 |
| TLC | The Lottery Corp | 4.825 | -4.64 | 5,604,114 | $11,262,404,817 |
| LFS | Latitude Group | 1.295 | -4.43 | 197,648 | $1,408,138,815 |
| ABP | Abacus Property Grp. | 2.93 | -4.25 | 1,913,180 | $2,734,592,357 |
| SDR | Siteminder | 3.88 | -4.20 | 97,859 | $1,113,162,232 |
| PLS | Pilbara Min Ltd | 4.5 | -4.05 | 38,767,320 | $14,060,476,908 |
| CQR | Charter Hall Retail | 3.975 | -3.75 | 650,098 | $2,400,478,285 |
| LLC | Lendlease Group | 7.74 | -3.73 | 2,194,578 | $5,541,154,887 |
Invocare (ASX:IVO) tumbled 10% after posting an $1.8m loss for the full year despite revenues gaining 12%.
Pathology and medical imaging stock Healius (ASX:HLS) fell 3.75% after it swung to a statutory net loss of $28.7m (vs $233.2m profit) for the first half. The company said the loss was mainly caused by reduced demand for COVID-19 testing.
Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) fell 5% after reporting a 4% profit decline in the half compared to the pcp.
Silex Systems (ASX:SLX) dropped 20% after completing its $120m institutional placement at an offer price of $4.05 per new share to accelerate commercialisation of its laser enrichment technology.