• ASX slipped after a warning from the RBA
  • Boral was the best large cap today, while ANZ and TPG stocks fell
  • Robodebt royal commission recommendations accepted by government

 

The ASX slipped on Monday by -0.30% as the RBA warned that bringing down inflation to the 2% target level will be a long and drawn out affair.

Speaking in Sydney, the RBA’s acting assistant governor for the economy, Marion Kohler, said that inflation is expected to ease, but more gradually than previously thought.

“… If high inflation did become entrenched in people’s expectations, it would be very costly to unwind, involving even higher interest rates and a larger rise in unemployment,” Kohler said.

Traders heeded those comments and brushed aside a big rally in New York on Friday where the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped by more than 2%.

The worst ASX sector today was Energy despite crude prices gaining 2% on Friday. The best sector was Utilities.

The best performing large cap stock was Boral (ASX:BLD), which rose 5% on the back of its FY24 earnings guidance upgrade (see more details below).

One of the worst performers was ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ), which fell over -3% after a disappointing $7.1bn full year cash profit (also see more details below).

Elsewhere in the region, Asian stocks mostly climbed on a busy day of earnings in China and Japan.

Sentiment is also high ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting in San Francisco where Xi is expected to touch down on Wednesday, US time.

Meanwhile, the Australian Federal Government has accepted all 56 Robodebt royal commission recommendations, with Government Services Minister Bill Shorten saying that “Robodebt was a cruel and crude mechanism”.

Robodebt was a government program used in 2015-2016 where debt notices were automatically mailed to welfare recipients to tell them they owed debts to the Commonwealth on the basis of assumptions including annual income to estimate their average fortnightly income.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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The building and construction materials group Boral (ASX:BLD) lifted over 5% today as it upgraded its FY24 guidance, with underlying EBIT expected to be in the range of $300-$330 million (previously $270-$300 million).

The revised guidance incorporates a better financial result for July-October, with Boral expecting this to continue through the remainder of FY24.

Wholesale grocery distributor Metcash (ASX:MTS) rose modestly after announcing that it was increasing its ownership in Total Tools Holdings (TTH) from 85% to 100% in late November. The consideration for the remaining 15% is $101.5m.

TTH is franchisor to the largest professional tools retail network in Australia, with annual sales in the retail network almost doubling from $585m in FY20 to $1.085 billion in FY23.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) fell -3% as as its full-year profit of $7.1bn profit missed forecasts. Net interest income increased by 11%to $16.58 billion, while the bank’s net interest margin (NIM) also increased by 7 bp to 1.70%.

“This is a strong annual result, with record revenue and cash profit following several years of transformation, enabling us to continue to support our customers and improve their banking experience,” said ANZ’s CEO, Shayne Elliott.

TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG) was the worst large cap today, down over -11% after it failed to reach a deal with Macquarie-backed Vocus over a transaction to sell its Vision Network. Vocus has been conducting a duel diligence on TPG’s assets for weeks, including a look into TPG’s fibre assets.

Hospital network, Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC), fell 3% after revealing that itself and Malaysian partner Sime Darby have reached agreement on the sale of its 50:50 joint venture in Asia, Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care (RSD) to Columbia Asia for MYR6,056m (approximately $2 billion).

Ramsay expects the NPAT on the sale of its share of the JV to be approximately $630m, which will be reflected in the FY24 full year results through the “discontinued operations line”.

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