Aussie shares climbed 1.13% higher today, boosted by a tech stock rally.
The XIJ tech index rose by more than 4%, buoyed by Nasdaq’s 1% rise overnight and strong earnings results from local stocks.
The Financial sector was the other big winner today, up by 2.5% as Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) reported a strong first half.
Mining stocks traded down, dampened by Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN)’s huge 80% drop in EBITDA for the first half.
Meanwhile, inflation fears are continuing to be the boogeyman for consumers, with the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index released today showing a fall of 1.3% in February.
According to recent survey, more than one in four Australian consumers now expect interest rates to rise by more than a percentage point.
“This is the most pessimistic consumers have been about the interest rate outlook since August 2011, although on that occasion, rate hikes actually failed to materialise,” said Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans.
Investors’ eyes are now on Thursday’s CPI reading in the US, a key datapoint that could determine the pace of US rate hikes this year.
BIG CAP WINNERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Computershare Ltd | 22.4 | 12.4% | 3,576,809 | $12,032,325,666 |
| DDR | Dicker Data Limited | 14.55 | 7.5% | 229,777 | $2,340,858,351 |
| FCL | Fineos Corp Hold PLC | 3.7 | 7.2% | 76,828 | $1,100,318,029 |
| ASM | Ausstratmaterials | 9.15 | 6.9% | 352,464 | $1,194,171,411 |
| IMU | Imugene Limited | 0.325 | 6.6% | 14,105,228 | $1,778,218,296 |
| VUL | Vulcan Energy | 9.7 | 6.5% | 1,378,276 | $1,198,945,218 |
| AVZ | AVZ Minerals Ltd | 0.855 | 6.2% | 23,648,137 | $2,778,910,779 |
| S32 | South32 Limited | 4.43 | 5.7% | 17,061,164 | $19,483,209,855 |
| CBA | Commonwealth Bank. | 99.68 | 5.7% | 3,635,263 | $160,912,728,163 |
| SDR | Siteminder | 6.08 | 5.6% | 258,683 | $1,565,353,492 |
| AWC | Alumina Limited | 2.08 | 5.1% | 11,946,916 | $5,745,329,206 |
| Z1P | Zip Co Ltd. | 3.08 | 4.8% | 6,560,829 | $1,731,174,559 |
| AMP | AMP Limited | 1.01 | 4.7% | 26,039,877 | $3,151,792,148 |
| TYR | Tyro Payments | 2.31 | 4.5% | 3,684,680 | $1,142,064,250 |
| MFG | Magellan Fin Grp Ltd | 18.4 | 4.5% | 1,525,179 | $3,270,406,000 |
| APX | Appen Limited | 8.62 | 4.5% | 1,923,612 | $1,015,368,057 |
Stock rego and transfer services company ComputerShare (ASX:CPU) was the best performing large cap today, up by 12.5%, after declaring a 4.6% increase in first half revenues to US$1.2bn.
More importantly, CPU left investors impressed after it lifted the full year earnings per share guidance from 2% to 9%.
Commonwealth Bank lifted other bank stocks today, after reporting a 23% jump in net profit in H1 FY22 to $4.75bn.
The bank’s net interest margin decreased by 17 basis points during the half, but CBA said it will lift its interim dividend to $1.75 per share despite those margins pressure.
BIG CAP LOSERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | Mineral Resources. | 52.5 | -9.3% | 4,399,070 | $10,930,650,213 |
| BAP | Bapcor Limited | 6.52 | -7.6% | 4,201,208 | $2,396,252,250 |
| NAN | Nanosonics Limited | 4.5 | -6.3% | 5,286,961 | $1,448,538,254 |
| PPH | Pushpay Holdings Ltd | 0.995 | -4.3% | 1,284,212 | $1,186,204,244 |
| FMG | Fortescue Metals Grp | 21.34 | -4.0% | 10,628,579 | $68,445,390,127 |
| CTT | Cettire | 2.7 | -3.9% | 1,477,419 | $1,071,279,398 |
| HMC | Homeco Limited | 6.3 | -3.1% | 346,756 | $1,886,731,308 |
| ERA | Energy Resources | 0.315 | -3.1% | 30,997 | $1,199,699,539 |
| IEL | Idp Education Ltd | 30.71 | -3.0% | 1,841,697 | $8,809,341,078 |
| GRR | Grange Resources. | 0.845 | -2.9% | 2,407,370 | $1,006,884,667 |
| APM | APM Human Services | 2.73 | -2.8% | 129,774 | $2,577,281,268 |
| MCY | Mercury NZ Limited | 5.39 | -2.7% | 12,917 | $7,547,147,169 |
| AFI | Australian Foundat. | 8.31 | -2.6% | 708,562 | $10,458,047,228 |
| VNT | Ventiaservicesgroup | 2.2 | -2.2% | 407,391 | $1,924,840,001 |
| IMD | Imdex Limited | 2.74 | -2.1% | 1,433,468 | $1,110,066,720 |
| GQG | GQG Partners | 1.685 | -2.0% | 1,361,883 | $5,078,825,346 |
| DBI | Dalrymple Bay | 1.99 | -2.0% | 159,441 | $1,006,396,184 |
Mineral Resources tanked 10% after revealing the battering it took from the unprecedented fall in iron ore prices through the first half of 2022, with underlying EBITDA falling a whopping 80% on the same period a year earlier to $156 million.
MinRes dumped its interim dividend as it delivered an underlying net loss after tax of $36 million and statutory NPAT of just $20 million, a 96% drop from the first half of 2021.
Autobarn’s parent company BapCor (ASX:BAP) also plunged 7% after reporting a sluggish EBITDA of $137.2m for the first half, a fall of 6% from last year’s corresponding half.
Bapcor however reported an interim fully franked dividend of 10 cents, which is 11% higher on its previous interim dividend.