• Shares rose on Thursday, boosted by Nvidia announcement
  • Judo Capital and Insignia fell double digits
  • Qantas rose modestly after announcing $2.47bn profit

 

The ASX rallied by 0.5% on Thursday, boosted by the surge in US tech stocks overnight.

ASX Tech was up almost 5% as investors were buoyed by Nvidia’s announcement saying that its sales will more than double as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips soars.

“Companies worldwide are transitioning from general-purpose to accelerated computing and generative AI,” declared Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, after market close.

Futures on the Nasdaq 100 trading in Asia are +1.5% higher several minutes ago, good news for the Wall Street open later tonight.

Equity benchmarks in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong also rose broad-based this afternoon, led by gains in tech stocks.

Meanwhile, Japan has begun the release of treated radioactive water from its Fukushima nuclear site into the Pacific Ocean.

Some 500,000 litres-a-day of treated wastewater will eventually be discharged into the Ocean, a move that has angered China.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Qantas (ASX:QAN) rose modestly after posting its first full year statutory profit since FY19 of $2.47 billion.

Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) rose 4% after announcing that its inaugural concentrate cargo is set for delivery, and has been trucked to Darwin Port. The 10,000t parcel of spodumene concentrate is now ready for shipping to foundation customer, Ganfeng Lithium.

Tabcorp (ASX:TAB) rose 5% after reporting a 2% increase in revenue, and a 103% increase in its full year EBIT to $150m.

Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) delivered toFY23 guidance, with 1,563koz gold sold at AISC of $1,759/oz. Revenue was $4.13bn, while underlying EBITDA was $1.537bn.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Judo Capital (ASX:JDO) plunged 16% after analysts flagged downgrades following its full year report.

Despite posting a 7x increase in profit before tax to $107.5m, Judo acknowledged that its clients, the SMEs, are going through one of the most challenging operating environments in decades.

Financial advisor and fundie Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL) tumbled more than 10% after reporting a 15% drop in full year net profit to $191m. Insignia cited weaker markets and its decision to cut fees as the main contributors.

Lovisa (ASX:LOV) fell -7% despite posting a 30% increase in sales to $596.4m for the full year. Its profits were 16.7% higher on pcp to $68.2m, but it was lower than what analysts expected.

Ramsay Healthcare (ASX:RHC) fell -11% after halving its dividends and warning that its earnings would take longer to recover from Covid due to higher labour and interest rates costs.

Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) dropped despite reporting record revenue of $6.06 billion, a jump of 23.3% from the pcp. WHC also reported record net profit of $2.67 billion, up 36.7% on pcp.