ASX Large Caps: Blue chips rise as upbeat reports start to pile up

• ASX finishes Thursday 0.75% higher
• Qantas makes $1.9bn FY22 loss
• Global central bankers to start arriving in Wyoming for Jackson Hole  

Blue chip shares rose 0.75% on Thursday as investors reacted to the last batch of results to be released this earnings season.

Of note was the grim Qantas (ASX:QAN) full year underlying pre-tax loss circa $1.9 billion, taking the national carrier’s total losses since COVID-19 to more than $25 billion in lost revenue – as reported by Stockhead’s own Emma Davies.

On the upside, QAN lifted post lockdown revenue by 54% largely thanks to the e-commerce boom keeping the freight division airborne.

CEO Alan Joyce says he’s confident the travel industry is rebounding, but in an ironic moment of self-unawareness blamed the “massive labour shortage” for QAN’s recent difficulties, after he himself slashed 20,000 Qantas jobs during the pandemic.

The QAN share price rose 5% today.

Another travel stock, Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) lost 5% as it reported a $272m underlying loss after tax despite a 154% increase in revenue to $1 billion.

Woolworths (ASX:WOW) dragged down the Consumer Staples sector as it fell 4% following a modest increase of just 0.7% in its full year NPAT of $1.514 billion.

This compares to Coles (ASX:COL)’ NPAT increase of 4.3% tp $1.05 billion announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, Energy was one of the best performing sectors alongside Real Estate today.

Uranium stocks surged as Japan hinted that it might return to nuclear power. Japan PM Fumio Kishida said yesterday that his government will explore the construction of new reactors as the country aims to avoid potential blackouts.

Shares in Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) jumped by 12% on the news.

Meanwhile, investors are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the gathering of world central bankers in Wyoming, which will start tonight and feature a speech by US Fed Governor Jerome Powell on Friday (US time).

“It is hard to be aggressive with any positioning until we hear from Powell on Friday,” said OANDA analyst Edward Moya.

“The Fed still has a lot of tightening to do, and that won’t change during the winter.  What Powell needs to do is signal that rates will probably stay higher than what markets are thinking.”

Looking ahead at other indictors tonight, the US GDP for the June quarter is due out, as well as US personal income and spending for July, and wholesale inventories data.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL) rose 12% after reporting underlying NPAT for the year of $234.5 million, an increase of 59% on FY21. The company will pay a final dividend of 11.8 cents per share fully franked.

IDP Education (ASX:IEL) rose 7.5%, after reporting total revenue of $793 million, an increase of 50% YoY. Adjusted EBIT was $163 million, an increase of 127% compared with FY21.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Travel firm Kelsian Group (ASX:KLS) fell 12% despite revenue increasing by 12.9%, and NPAT growing by 40% to $52.9 million.