Christmas has come early for the bank’s shareholders with the decision to slightly increase the 2024 dividend – despite a single-digit decline in the net profit and cash earnings.
Beating the market benchmark is never easy, with 72 per cent of Australian actively managed global equity general funds trailing the S&P World Index in the six months to June 30, 2024. Domestic equity funds performed slightly better, albeit against a significantly lower bar set by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
ASX reverses gains as energy falls, tech, communications near highs, Orica sinks
The local market gave up early gains to finish broadly flat on Thursday after a strong week in the market.
Four sectors finished in the red, led by energy and materials, down 2.2 and 1.1 per cent respectively.
The key driver has been growing concerns about a weakening in demand for oil and gas, a natural reaction to higher prices, which are also hitting higher supply following OPEC+ announcing their decision to increase production marginally.
Energy companies were naturally the underperformers, led by Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) and Woodside (ASX: WDS), both falling more than 3 per cent.
Orica (ASX: ORI) was the biggest drag on the market with the explosives company falling 9.3 per cent following the end of a trading halt that flagged the purchase of a mining technology business and $650 million capital raise.
On the positive side were the technology and communication sectors which continue to benefit from a reversal in bond yields, with high-growth companies Pointsbet (ASX: PBH) and Imugene (ASX: IMU) gaining 11.6 and 10.9 per cent respectively.
Magellan rallies despite outflows, IFM increases Atlas stake
Shares in fund manager Magellan (ASX: MFG) gained 1.6 per cent despite the company reporting another $1.1 billion fall in assets under management to $60.2 billion.
The primary driver was $2.1 billion in institutional redemptions, which come as the group’s underlying funds begin to outperform.
The future of Atlas Arteria (ASX: ALX) remains up in the air after prospective buyer IFM pulled out last week, only to increase its stake to 19 per cent, sending the share price 3.5 per cent higher.
Australia’s economic resilience has continued with the trade surplus hitting a new record of $17.7 billion in June, $3 billion higher than predicted by economists with the outperformance driven by a 63 per cent jump in gold exports.
Mesoblast (ASX: MSB) shares have entered a trading halt, following a 33 per cent fall thus far this year with the group once again putting the cap out for another capital raising for their prospective treatments.
US inflation signs peak, oil drops, Alibaba bounce, Coinbase to team up with BlackRock
Global markets were mixed overnight with the Dow Jones falling 0.3 per cent amid signs that the surge in oil prices may be ending.
Prices have fallen to $US90 per barrel as demand continues to weaken around the world. The Nasdaq on the other hand gained 0.4 and the S&P500 lost 0.1 per cent with markets on pause ahead of another important employment result.
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) shares gained around 2 per cent after the company reported the first annual revenue decline in its history, with profit also halving to US$3.4 billion by strong growth continuing in the cloud computing division which was 10 per cent larger.
Embattled crypto platform Coinbase (NYSE: COIN) gained more than 10 per cent after funds management giant BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) confirmed a partnership with the firm that will bring crypto options to institutional investors.
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has struggled in the face of high inventory levels and will be cutting 200 jobs in response to weaker spending, shares fell more than 3 per cent.
