ASX Large Caps: Shares jump after guidance upgrades by Origin, Judo and Transurban

• The ASX jumped half a percent, tracking moves in New York on Friday
• Three major decisions by central banks this week
• Judo Capital upgrades its net interest margin guidance for H2 

The ASX 200 index rose to by 0.5% on Tuesday as it tracked Friday’s movements on Wall Street.

The local market was in an upbeat mood ahead of three crucial central banks decisions this week – the RBA tomorrow, the US Fed on Thursday AEST, and the ECB on Friday AEST.

Energy, Healthcare and Utilities were the top performing sectors today while Tech was the biggest laggard.

Utility stock Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) was up half a percent after guiding the market to between $950m and $1.2bn for the full year on solid contribution from Octopus Energy in the UK.

Pinnacle Investment (ASX:PNI) was one of the best performers, up almost 5% after giving a presentation at the Macquarie Australia Conference.

Carsales.com (ASX:CAR) slipped 1% after completing the acquisition of a further 40% shares in leading Brazilian automotive digital marketplace, webmotors.

Judo Capital (ASX:JDO) meanwhile rose half a percent after upgrading its net interest margin guidance for H2 of FY23.

Judo Bank’s CEO and co-founder, Joseph Healy, said: “We are upgrading our underlying NIM guidance for the second half of FY23 to an expected range of 3.3 – 3.5%. and we are on track to achieve the rest of our FY23 guidance metrics.”

Meanwhile, spot gold slipped half a percent in the past few hours to US$1,981.50, driving down ASX gold stocks.

RBA decision tomorrow

Eyes will focus on the RBA meeting tomorrow as investors look to see if the central bank will keep rates on hold once again.

Quarterly inflation data last week showed inflation has eased from its peak, coming in at 7%. The headline number was in line with expectations, whilst trimmed mean inflation came in below expectations at 6.6%.

“We believe the May RBA meeting will be a repeat of April with the RBA declining to hike rates,” said Scott Solomon, co-portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price.

Solomon said he suspects the RBA paused because it wants to observe how the economy evolves during this period of heightened mortgage resets.

“They will likely attempt a hawkish tone by dangling the possibility of further hikes based upon evolving data, but it is very likely we have already reached the terminal rate.”

Solomon also thinks there are political pressures weighing on the commitment to support a pause.

“However, if Governor Lowe ultimately determines that a rate hike is necessary, there are data points available to support such a decision. We recognize the outcome of the meeting is not fully locked in.”

BIG CAP WINNERS

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ResMed (ASX:RMD) led the large cap end of town today, up almost 6% on no specific news. On Friday, the company reported a 29% QoQ sales increase of +29% to US$1.11 billion.

Logistics company Qube Holdings (ASX:QUB) rose 0.3% after announcing two new acquisitions – a 50% stake in NZ’s container logistics company Pinnacle Corporation, and a 100% stake in Australian bulk logistics provider Kalari Proprietary.

Qube said total consideration will be around $145m, and will be funded through Qube’s existing undrawn debt facilities.

Telix Pharma (ASX:TLX) rose 2% after announcing additional positive results from its completed pivotal Phase III ZIRCON study of TLX250-CDx  in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

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Transurban (ASX:TCL) lost half a percent after lifting its annual dividend guidance for the second time in six months.

The company said its tollroads are undergoing “traffic momentum, and announced the FY23 distribution is expected to be 58 cents per share (cps), representing approximately 41.5% growth on FY22 and 1 cps on prior distribution guidance”.