Local markets are failing to get excited about another week at work. We’re heading back down the way we came, nearing the lows of the start of the month, despite a stonking final session over in the States on Friday.

At 12pm on Monday, the benchmark ASX 200 (XJO) index was down 15 points or -0.22% to 6,961.

Via MarketIndex

 

The big end of town has delivered disappointing company news all morning.

The ANZ bank missed its mark on net interest margins and with FY23 pre-provision numbers.

Macquarie Group is down almost 2.5% after going ex-div.

Six of 11 sectors are down with financials weakest now that ANZ losses are nearing 3.5%.

Among the headlines getting in the way of some happy early business – the news that TPG Telecom’s extremely big dollar (about $6.3bn of them)  deal with collegiate telco Vocus has gone and fallen over.

Australia’s third-biggest telco pulled the plug on the deal which included leaseback of its non-fibre mobile assets with Macquarie-backed Vocus, TPG stock tumbling by double figures on the revelations.

TPG has said a little belatedly that it’s still up for a deal – just not with Vocus and not when it’s all so apparently complex.

All this started after Vocus made an unsolicited bid for TPG’s “mini NBN” fixed infrastructure assets, which comes with Visoon Network and some 400,000 customers.

But once the pair engaged in talks, the deal got big on everyone.

Jarrad Lynch at The Oz described the situation perfectly this morning: “Carving up TPG’s broadband assets would have been akin to unscrambling an egg.”

 

ASX SECTORS ON MONDAY

Via MarketIndex

 

Not the ASX

The major US averages will begin their week tonight, coming off a second straight week of gains after Wall Street got its groove back on Friday night in New York. Big time.

The S&P 500 rose +1.3% last week, while the Dow Jones and tech heavy Nasdaq improved circa +0.7% and +2.5%, respectively.

Among the benchmark sectors, Tech took topline honours. It rose sharply thanks to Microsoft’s 2.5% sprint that sent the tech giant to all-time highs during the session.

Lots more happening Stateside.

Here’s a taste:

US lawmakers return to Capitol Hill tonight with no real sense of impending doom despite just about everything, as well as having mere days left to pass that (almost forgot!) stopgap funding measure to keep the government lights on past this week. The budget wrangling in Congress will be painful –  but with a Friday deadline before we’re back at shutdown, one almost has to believe they can pull it off.

US earnings is almost done, although this week has names like Home Depot and Alibaba to terrify.

October inflation data will be this week’s US economic highlight.

Ratings agency Moody’s also lowered its outlook on the United States’ credit rating to “negative” from “stable” while affirming the rating at Aaa, the highest investment-grade notch. The move has been attributed to ‘a significant increase in debt servicing expenses and the presence of entrenched political polarisation’.

Yeek.

Futures tied to the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq were all around 0.15% lower in New York.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 10 November [intraday]:

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The Aussie imaging technology firm 4D Medical (ASX:4DX) says that from January 1 next year, the notoriously difficult American healthcare world will start helping notoriously troubled American patients.

4DX surged on the news its scanning device has been included into the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – which is the US federal agency providing health coverage through Medicare and the rest of those weird US health things.

So from 1 January 2024, XV LVAS scans conducted in a US hospital outpatient facility for Medicare patients can be billed to CMS.

Some 65.7 million Americans are enrolled in the program.

Here’s a very excited 4DXl MD, CEO, founder and soon-to-be Aussie medtech legend Andreas Fouras:

I am very excited by this progress in the commercialisation of our technology, and the positive impact this reimbursement decision will have upon doctors and their patients. Achieving a Medicare reimbursement of US$299 per scan is a major milestone in our progress to secure reimbursement across the entire U.S. healthcare system and meaningfully removes a barrier to broader adoption across the large network of facilities providing healthcare to the 65 million Americans enrolled in Medicare. This ruling will lead to accelerated uptake of XV LVAS, which in turn will support our pursuit of a Category I CPT code.

 

An update from local respirator medtech Cleanspace (ASX:CSX) has the stock up strongly this morning:

  • October sales have continued growth trend up some +50% v PCP.
  • Currently running ahead of expectations for sales growth in FY24.
  • Costs and cash are also running in line with our expectations.
  • At this run rate we can expect to be close to exiting FY24 at cash break even
  • Europe the star performer at +111% growth, with strong growth in France, UK and Germany where sales have doubled v PCP.
  • Growth in Asia Pacific is +25%. Australia is +31%. North America +7%

The newly set CEO Graham McLean says the tide is turning for the Sydney-based designer and manufacturer of respiratory protection equipment for industrial and healthcare solutions.

“Interestingly, we are getting both volume and price growth. The price benefit is on the back of launching two new industrial products at higher prices than the products they replaced. And we are picking up good volume growth in all key markets in both respirator units and consumables.

“We will continue to optimise costs where possible, but I believe we have already made the significant cost reductions that were possible in FY23, without compromising our ability to grow revenue. Importantly, we believe that the business is now under control and we do not expect to need to raise further capital with the current structure and strategy.”

 

Elsewhere, lets run through them quickly – Asra Minerals (ASX:ASR) has exercised its option to purchase three exploration licences at the rapidly emerging Lake Johnston pegmatite field in WA’s southern Yilgarn region.

Infinity Lithium (ASX:INF) has announced €18.8 million ($31 million) in grant funding to Tecnología Extremeña del Litio for advancement of the San José lithium project by the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.  “This is a significant milestone for both the company and the project,” managing director and CEO Ryan Parkin says.

Seven West Media (ASX:SWM)  has acquired a 14.9% shareholding in ARN Media (ASX:A1N) and also entered into a cash-settled equity swap with Barrenjoey Markets  relating to a further 5% of A1N.

Flynn Gold (ASX:FG1) says lithium exploration field work will start over recently identified pegmatites across a 5km corridor at its Lake Johnston project.

Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) says land access agreements are now secured for over 92% of the full 44km2 mining licence application for the stage One development of the Makuutu Project over Retention Licence (RL) 1693 in Uganda.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 10 November [intraday]:

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