• The ASX closed higher on Wednesday
  • Corporate earnings were the focus as BHP, Origin Energy and Beach Energy gave updates
  • Lithium stocks climbed once again

 

The ASX 200 has at last managed to scrape together two winning days in a row, as the index closed 0.30% on Wednesday.

Industrials, Discretionary and Utilities led with 1% gain each, while Mining and Tech lagged.

The index had earlier opened lower but climbed towards lunch as investors digested corporate earnings in both the US and at home.

Overnight, Wall St rebounded by around 1% as bank earnings continue to show signs of economic resilience.

Goldman Sachs’s Q3 earnings beat estimates and so did Netflix, who surged almost 14% after hours as subscriber growth topped expectations.

BHP (ASX:BHP) however disappointed as its thermal coal and met coal output fall 33% and 19% respectively in the September quarter compared to the previous year due to the amount of rain.

BHP also said coal production at the New South Wales Energy Coal business slid 38% year on year to 2.62Mt, with met coal down 1% year on year to 6.662Mt, but has kept its guidance in tact on both counts.

Read Josh Chiat’s BHP Results: Coal output slides but who really cares when you’re pulling in prices like these for a full rundown.

Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) dropped 1% despite telling the market that its FY23 EBITDA will be between $500m-$600m, a 37% to 78% increase on FY22.

Origin also provided a commentary guidance for FY24, saying that it “anticipates further growth in energy markets underlying EBITDA.”

The Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price hit a pre-pandemic high at $6.02% today after rising 2% on no news.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

Chalice Mining  (ASX:CHN) was up 5% after confirming a major northern extension of the Gonneville Intrusion in its Julimar project in WA. Chalice says it remains focused on delivering a scoping study for the potential Gonneville mine later this year.

Lithium stocks Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) rose 8% and 6% respectively on no specific news.

Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) was in trading halt once again pending an announcement.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

Megaport (ASX:MP1) plunged 21% despite reporting solid Q1 Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) growth of 9% QoQ, up $913k to $11.6m in September.

Total revenue for the quarter was $33.7m, up 10% compared to the last quarter. Annualised recurring revenue at 30 September was $139m.

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) fell 0.2% after reporting a fall in its quarterly production, down 8% to 5.2 MMboe due to natural field decline, Cooper Basin flooding and unplanned outages.

Read MoreMarkets

Featured Companies

You might be interested in