• ASX gained as miners and real estate stocks rally
  • Cettire surged by almost 30pc on H1 results
  • Chinese stocks on watch as President meets with regulators to discuss markets

 

The ASX gained +0.5% on Wednesday, boosted by rallies in iron ore and gold miners, as well as real estate and utility stocks.

This comes as traders parsed through comments from Fed Reserve members who basically cautioned against lowering rates too soon.

ASX lithium producers gained today, with Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Lynas (ASX:LYC) and IGO (ASX:IGO) all up by around 4% each following a commodity rally overnight.

Real estate stocks also rose after a string of of half-year reports from listed REITs (see below).

But the main focus today was on Chinese stocks, where traders increased their bets on expectations that officials would provide more announcements to shore up the market.

Chinese stocks have been rebounding since Bloomberg reported that the nation’s regulators were planning to brief President Xi Jinping on the market.

“It gives me the impression that they are doing everything they can, apart from calling out to the market – now is the time to buy,” said Li Weiqing, fund manager at JH Investment Management Co.

Looking ahead to tonight, US-listed stocks scheduled to report earnings include: Alibaba, Arm Holdings, News Corp, PayPal, Uber and Walt Disney.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Global online fashion retalier, Cettire Ltd (ASX:CTT), surged 23% after gross revenue for H1 of FY24 rose by 90% to $460.5 million.

Active customers during the period increased massively by +83% to ~576,000.

The company announced bottom line statutory EBITDA of $22.4 million; and statutory NPAT of $12.8 million.

Packaging giant Amcor (ASX:AMC) rose despite announcing interim Q2 net profit of US$286m, down from $691m in pcp.

This was on the back of US$6.694b in net sales, down -9% on pcp. Amcor also declared US12.5c December quarter dividend, and an 18.98c unfranked ASX dividend.

Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX:CIP) rose after upgrading its FY24 Funds From Operations (FFO) guidance to 17.2 cents per unit (cpu), and reaffirming its FY24 distribution guidance of 16.0 cpu.

CIP says it has a strong balance sheet, with 33.7% gearing, no debt expiry until FY25, and 88% hedged debt as at 31 December 2023.

The REIt continues to have strong portfolio, with 88 assets worth $3.8bn.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) fell slightly after announcing Andrew Irvine as its new Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.

Irvine has been NAB’s Group Executive Business and Private Banking head since 2020, and will succeed Ross McEwan on 2 April. McEwan will retire from executive roles after a distinguished career.

Prior to joining NAB, Irvine was Head of Canadian Business Banking at the Bank of Montreal (BMO). He held a range of roles at BMO over more than 12 years and previously worked for McKinsey & Company, Lycos Europe and Credit Agricole.

Santos (ASX:STO) dipped and Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) gained 1% after confirming that discussions between Santos and Woodside regarding a potential merger have ceased.

Santos said that following an initial exchange of information, sufficient combination benefits were not identified to support a merger that would be in the best interests of Santos shareholders.

Fletcher Building (ASX:FBU) fell after releasing this statement to the ASX:

“Fletcher Building Limited is aware of a news media report stating that it is weighing up an equity raise. This is inaccurate and Fletcher Building is seeking to have the story removed.”

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