• ASX tech sector rises more than 7% in November and is up more than 20% YTD
  • Tech heavy NASDAQ rallies more than 10% in November and is up ~37% YTD
  • Findi leads November tech winners raising $37.6 million ahead of TSI India IPO and strong H1 FY24 results

The S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech [XIJ] index was up 7.03% in November and has now risen 21% for the year, surpassing the benchmark ASX 200 [XJO] which rose 3.81% in November and is up 0.69% YTD.

The NASDAQ index, the bellwether for the global tech sector, has also rallied by more than 37% in 2023 and is up 10% for November.

Growth sectors like tech have been gaining as it looks like central banks might be just starting to win the fight against inflation. The tech sector has been further boosted as artificial intelligence (AI) continues its run as a dominant investment theme in 2023.

Momentum for AI was sparked by the launch of ChatGPT a year ago in November 2022, which has helped fuelled growth for a wide range of tech companies including semiconductors and cloud computing.

This week US Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller was taking a dovish tone suggesting the Fed may just be done with hiking rates.

“I am increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2%,” he says.

Waller says he could see a point where the Fed might start lowering rates.

“There is no reason to say we will keep it really high,” he says.

Meanwhile in a welcome surprise back home in Australia, the latest CPI figures show that the monthly inflation rate fell to 4.9% from 5.6% in October, beating expectations.

The lower inflation rate has pundits forecasting a slim chance of the RBA lifting rates at its December meeting next Tuesday, the final for 2023.

 

ASX 200 Information Technology (XIJ) Vs ASX200 (XJO) YTD

Source: Market Index

 

Here are the top ASX Tech Winners for November 2023

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort. 

Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
FND Findi Limited 1.09 67% $43,308,869
WSP Whispir Limited 0.49 66% $65,545,932
SQ2 Block 96.39 44% $3,215,025,041
K2F K2Fly Ltd 0.091 40% $15,953,647
IRE IRESS Limited 7.03 39% $1,143,151,581
DXN DXN Limited 0.002 33% $3,446,680
NVQ Noviqtech Limited 0.004 33% $5,237,781
DCC Digitalx Limited 0.048 33% $36,530,433
SPT Splitit 0.052 33% $27,669,202
CAT Catapult Group International 1.27 32% $317,009,320
ESK Etherstack PLC 0.27 32% $35,614,891
ERD Eroad Limited 0.71 31% $140,399,404
NXL Nuix Limited 1.795 31% $553,092,471
PIL Peppermint Inv Ltd 0.017 31% $38,719,280
BRN Brainchip Ltd 0.22 29% $411,713,373
EXT Excite Technology 0.009 29% $9,069,313
SPX Spenda Limited 0.014 27% $44,126,791
ID8 Identitii Limited 0.02 25% $8,117,522
GTK Gentrack Group Ltd 5.6 24% $557,955,833
CAG Caperange 0.13 24% $12,338,079
QHL Quickstep Holdings 0.28 22% $19,007,447
QOR Qoria Limited 0.225 22% $256,028,231
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ASX-listed Indian-focused fintech Findi (ASX:FND) rose 67%. FND announced it had raised $37.6 million ahead of TSI India IPO from leading Indian investment firm Piramal Alternatives, backed by leading Canadian pension fund CDPQ.

Furthermore, the company announced statutory revenue of $31.76 million for H1 FY24, up 30.2% on pcp with EBITDA up 84.4% to $12.65 million on pcp.

Statutory net profit after tax for Q1 FY24 was $1.098 million, compared with $190k in Q1 FY23.

READ: ASX fintech Findi to grab huge opportunity as 350 million Indians set to enter banking services

Whispir (ASX:WSP) rose after former Appen (ASX:APX) boss Mark Brayan-run Soprano Design lobbed an off-market takeover play for all shares in the tech company for 48c or ~$64 million.

In his AGM address this week chairman Brendan Fleiter says a special board committee of WSP’s independent directors including Sarah Morgan and himself has been formed to evaluate and respond to the offer.

Financial data provider IRESS (ASX:IRE) surged after announcing progress on its transformation strategy, along with an updated guidance for FY23 and FY24 earnings.

IRE says its transformation program has accelerated, with revenue growth in H2 of +2.6% versus H1. Cost base was more favourable in H2 compared to H1, driven by lower staff costs, and a lift in customer sentiment.

The company upgraded its guidance, increasing its FY23 underlying EBITDA estimate to $123m-$128m from its previous forecast $118m-$122m.

Global sports analytics company Catapult Group (ASX:CAT) also rose in November after announcing strong H1 FY24 results with MD and CEO Will Lopes saying “all key metrics for the first half delivered or exceeded against our expectations.”

He says the SaaS part of the business continues to be its growth engine, with annualised contract value growing by 21% on a constant currency basis year on year, and reaching nearly $124m.

“This growth, coupled with record level retention rate, meant that our SaaS revenue grew by 25% over the past 12 months,” Lopes says

He says results of a strong SaaS performance meant that during the half total revenue delivered nearly $77m, up 21% on pcp.

“More impressive, is that we were able to generate this growth while simultaneously reducing costs, significantly improving our margins, highlighting our operational leverage,” he says.

 

Here are the top ASX Tech Losers for November 2023

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort. 

Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
PVS Pivotal Systems 0.001 -75% $768,379
ADS Adslot Ltd. 0.002 -50% $9,673,487
3DP Pointerra Limited 0.047 -49% $34,978,924
4DS 4DS Memory Limited 0.075 -38% $183,601,416
VR1 Vection Technologies 0.024 -37% $27,038,135
RCL Readcloud 0.038 -33% $6,140,589
BTH Bigtincan Holdings 0.18 -32% $106,269,291
SEN Senetas Corporation 0.0135 -31% $18,212,109
FGL Frugl Group Limited 0.009 -31% $8,649,558
DTC Damstra Holdings 0.17 -28% $41,261,135
BDT Birddog 0.095 -27% $18,560,739
XF1 Xref Limited 0.125 -26% $22,341,155
PPS Praemium Limited 0.42 -25% $214,614,113
SIS Simble Solutions 0.003 -25% $1,808,852
XPN Xpon Technologies 0.03 -25% $4,755,826
RVS Revasum 0.13 -25% $13,814,737
SOV Sovereign Cloud Hldg 0.072 -24% $26,812,653
EML EML Payments Ltd 0.855 -22% $288,443,746
RKT Rocketdna Ltd. 0.0095 -21% $5,071,980
GTI Gratifii 0.008 -20% $10,590,058
IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.008 -20% $2,432,643
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Provider of gas flow control (GFC) solutions to the semiconductor industry Pivotal Systems Corporation (ASX:PVS) fell 75% in its last month of trade on the ASX.  PVS has merged with California corporation OmegaX, Inc and was removed from the bourse on November 21.

OmegaX agreed to acquire all of the issued shares in PVS and resolve the company’s outstanding debt and preferred stock obligations for cash consideration. The transaction valued PVS at ~US$18 million.

Digital e-learning solutions provider Readcloud (ASX:RCL) fell in November. The company released its FY23 results including 25% growth in consolidated revenue and other income to $10.70m, up from $8.55m pcp. However, FY23 underlying EBITDA of $785,675 was down on the pcp figure of $822,834.

Enterprise protection software player Damstra Holdings (ASX:DTC) was down in November. The company in October announced it had received multiple takeover bids, but told the market on November 10 that Mitratech had withdrawn its proposal for 30 cents/share by way of scheme of arrangement.