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.
Local market making baby steps
The Australian share market crept higher on Tuesday ahead of the second Budget statement of the year, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index adding 19.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6798.6, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 15.3 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6993.7.
Every sector was up except for energy and mining, in which investors were busy assessing concerns over the Chinese economy.
All of the big banks gained ground, with NAB adding 32 cents, or 1 per cent to a five-month high of $31.95; CBA advancing $1.30, or 1.3 per cent, to $101.78; ANZ rising 11 cents, or 0.4 per cent to $25.70; and Westpac up 3 cents to $23.90. Investment bank Macquarie Group improved $3.54, or 2.2 per cent, to $165.00, while Wesfarmers added 41 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $44.59, Woolworths gained 6 cents to $33.38 and rival Coles advanced 12 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $16.60.
Plumbing supplies group Reliance Worldwide Corporation hit the skids on the back of a September trading update which saw sales for the September quarter increase by 23 per cent to $US303.1 million ($479 million), but earnings before interest and tax fall by 15 per cent to $US64.6 million, and worse, the EBIT margin decline to 21.4 per cent from 22.8 per cent. Reliance shares plunged 48 cents, or 13.4 per cent, to $3.11.
Fuel distributor and retailer Ampol also brought out a disappointing update, with jet fuel sales and trading and shipping the main culprits in a 21.3 million loss in the September quarter. The company predicted further volatility in the market and the company warned of uncertainties affecting trading conditions. The share market completely ignored the company’s forecast of record full-year profits, stripping $3.93, or 12.6 per cent, from the share price, to $27.35.
On the upside, Credit Corp shares jumped after the company reiterated upbeat FY23 guidance on profit, lending and investment, with the shares surging $1.35, or 7.9 per cent, to $18.43. Nine Entertainment was up 10 cents, or 5.3 per cent, to $2.08.
Lithium still bringing the heat
The resources world was led lower by BHP, which was down 56 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $38.50; Rio Tinto lost $1.27, also 1.4 per cent, to $91.32; and Fortescue Metals shed 51 cents, or 3 per cent, to $16.26.
It wasn’t a great day in the coal world, with New Hope Corporation losing 44 cents, or 6.2 per cent, to $6.66; Whitehaven Coal down 49 cents, or 4.5 per cent, to $10.36; Yancoal retreating 18 cents, or 3.1 per cent, to $5.72; and Coronado Global Resources giving up 6 cents, or 2.9 per cent, to $2.02; but Stanmore Resources went against the trend, adding 9 cents, or 3.1 per cent, to $2.97.
Chalice Mining slid 22 cents, or 4.9 per cent, to $4.27, giving up some recent gains made on the back of encouraging drilling results at its Julimar poly-metallic deposit near Perth.
In the lithium space, explorer C29 Metals rocketed 14 cents, or 93 per cent, almost doubling to 25 cents on news it has signed an option agreement to acquire two lithium brine exploration licences in South America. It said it will target the direct extraction of lithium from salt lake brines. Project developer Liontown Resources added 9 cents, or 4.8 per cent, to $1.97; fellow developer Core Lithium rose 7 cents, or 5 per cent, to $1.47; and Sayona Mining, which has lithium projects in Canada and Western Australia, surged 2.5 cents, or 10.6 per cent, to 26 cents, despite having any news for the market. Among the producers, Allkem gained 7 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $14.19; fellow producer Pilbara Minerals eased 2 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $5.36; IGO, which mines lithium and nickel, was down 18 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $15.91; and Mineral Resources, which mines iron ore and lithium, shed $1.33, or 1.8 per cent, to $74.75. In gold, St Barbara, which has had a bad time recently, regained 2.5 cents, or 5.3 per cent, to 50 cents.
Tech outlook lifts US gauges
In the US market overnight, stocks continued their rise, with the broad S&P 500 index advancing 61.8 points, or 1.6 per cent, to close at 3,859.1; the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 337.1 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 31,836.7; and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite spiked 246.5 points, or 2.2 per cent, to 11,199.1.
Google‘s parent Alphabet reported its weakest revenue growth since 2013 in its third-quarter earnings statement, missing revenue and profit expectations as YouTube ad revenue dropped in the quarter. But the shares rose 1.9 per cent. Microsoft surpassed expectations on the revenue and profit lines, despite cloud revenue coming in lower than expected – but in a similar reaction to Alphabet, investors lifted the share price by 1.4 per cent.
The US 10-year Treasury bond rallied, but the yield remains above 4 per cent at 4.1 per cent, while the more policy-sensitive 2-year Treasury note also came in slightly in yield terms, to 4.473 per cent.
European markets closed mostly higher, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index gaining 1.4 per cent.
In commodities, gold advanced US$1.58, or 0.1 per cent, to US$1,653.32 an ounce; Brent crude oil lost 16 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to US$93.10 a barrel; and the US West Texas Intermediate grade gained 74 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to US$85.32 a barrel. The Australian dollar is buying 63.84 US cents, rising from 63.25 US cents at the local close yesterday.
