ASX falls as jobless rises. Graincorp’s profit declines. The goat doesn't care, because it's a goat. Picture Getty
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The ASX fell -0.75% on Thursday despite gains on Wall Street overnight where stocks closed modestly higher.
Local traders weighed the latest Aussie jobless data today, which shows unemployment rate ticking up to 3.7% in October from 3.6% in September.
According to the ABS, the number of people in employment increased last month by 55,000, and the number of officially unemployed rose by 27,900.
Josh Gilbert, Market Analyst at eToro, said this unemployment reading won’t be what Michele Bullock wanted to see, and shows the RBA will have to continue navigating difficult economic conditions.
“Although this reading doesn’t tip the dial towards an additional rate hike before Christmas, it does mean that the RBA will remain hawkish into next year,” said Gilbert.
Aussie bond yields fell after the release, paring earlier advances.
On the ASX, Utilities and Staples sectors led, while Real Estate and Energy lagged. Stocks across the Energy sector tumbled as crude prices plunged by over 2% overnight amid global demand worries.
Amongst large cap winners today were A2 Milk (ASX:A2M), which rose almost 5% after holding its AGM this morning.
Top of the losers’ list meanwhile was Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL), which slipped -4%, also after holding its AGM.
Across the region, Asian stocks were slightly higher as Wall Street’s VIX index, which measures the market’t fear factor, sat near a two-month low of 14.18.
Later tonight in the US, the weekly new unemployment claims data are due.
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMW | Cromwell Prop | 0.42 | 4.32 | 2,976,327 | $1,060,641,013 |
| TUA | Tuas Limited | 2.28 | 4.11 | 103,903 | $1,018,262,227 |
| LLC | Lendlease Group | 6.74 | 3.46 | 2,499,706 | $4,489,505,928 |
| IRE | IRESS Limited | 5.78 | 3.13 | 1,558,754 | $1,046,021,054 |
| AD8 | Audinate Group Ltd | 14.56 | 2.90 | 212,559 | $1,175,990,029 |
| IPH | IPH Limited | 6.92 | 2.67 | 628,387 | $1,617,747,188 |
| ZIM | Zimplats Holding Ltd | 20.82 | 2.56 | 8,524 | $2,185,044,275 |
| GNC | GrainCorp Limited | 7.61 | 2.49 | 1,377,854 | $1,664,580,518 |
| SDR | Siteminder | 4.98 | 2.47 | 862,703 | $1,336,821,275 |
| ALL | Aristocrat Leisure | 40.30 | 2.08 | 985,363 | $25,605,152,432 |
| ORG | Origin Energy | 8.73 | 1.87 | 9,670,670 | $14,763,947,540 |
| RMD | ResMed Inc. | 23.34 | 1.79 | 1,490,159 | $12,985,082,439 |
| NEU | Neuren Pharmaceut. | 15.04 | 1.76 | 655,198 | $1,870,640,691 |
Graincorp (ASX:GNC) rose 3% despite announcing that NPAT for the full year FY23 fell from $380 million in the pcp to $250 million.
Despite this decline, GrainCorp will maintain its annual dividend to shareholders at 54 cents per share. The company also announced that it will pay a special dividend of 16c and buy back $50m of shares. During the year, GrainCorp said it handled 37.4 million tonnes and exported 8.3 million tonnes of grains.
Diversified investment company Seven Group (ASX:SVW) was up 1.5% after saying that its Group level guidance for FY24 has increased from high single-digit EBIT growth, to “high single to low teen EBIT growth in FY24”.
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMP | AMP Limited | 0.85 | -16.01 | 65,958,712 | $2,792,046,603 |
| 360 | Life360 Inc. | 8.33 | -6.19 | 749,551 | $1,799,694,291 |
| OCL | Objective Corp | 11.31 | -5.75 | 595,928 | $1,142,463,792 |
| BOE | Boss Energy Ltd | 4.10 | -5.65 | 2,712,158 | $1,531,731,668 |
| PRN | Perenti Limited | 0.99 | -5.26 | 3,914,005 | $1,003,239,819 |
| EVN | Evolution Mining Ltd | 3.60 | -4.89 | 4,912,575 | $6,944,555,021 |
| AWC | Alumina Limited | 0.73 | -4.87 | 8,015,355 | $2,234,294,691 |
| GOR | Gold Road Res Ltd | 1.79 | -4.29 | 1,542,713 | $2,013,496,369 |
| BPT | Beach Energy Limited | 1.52 | -4.26 | 2,684,454 | $3,615,913,845 |
| NST | Northern Star | 11.32 | -4.19 | 2,252,186 | $13,572,301,380 |
| IGO | IGO Limited | 8.87 | -4.11 | 1,977,661 | $7,004,727,270 |
| RMS | Ramelius Resources | 1.54 | -4.05 | 2,101,827 | $1,823,518,535 |
| RRL | Regis Resources | 1.74 | -4.01 | 2,165,868 | $1,367,163,242 |
| SHL | Sonic Healthcare | 29.28 | -4.00 | 1,469,513 | $14,478,261,886 |
| MGH | Maas Group Holdings | 3.44 | -3.91 | 137,898 | $1,180,488,450 |
| IFT | Infratil Limited | 9.42 | -3.78 | 92,715 | $8,144,202,973 |
| DEG | De Grey Mining | 1.19 | -3.64 | 1,542,687 | $2,221,882,786 |
| PXA | Pexagroup | 11.33 | -3.57 | 141,387 | $2,083,869,233 |
Investors dumped AMP (ASX:AMP) after the company cut its margin forecasts and said it would spend $60m on a new digital bank for small businesses.
AMP says net interest margin (NIM) will continue to be under pressure in FY24. Separately, AMP said it will work with UK’s Engine by Starling to launch a digital bank division built specifically for the transaction needs of sole traders and small businesses.
Lithium stock IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) was also down -3% after reminding the market about the volatile conditions in the lithium market at its AGM today. The company however said that “every effort is being made to increase production volumes over FY24.”
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