asx 200

Market weakens on China tensions, local tech dumped, hot IPO market cooling The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) fell 0.5%, weakening throughout the day as news continued to worsen.  Initially, it was US payment giant PayPal (NYSE:PYPL) delivering a strong earnings result but announcing they would soon be bringing their BNPL offering to Australia in direct competition with Afterpay (ASX:APT). Shares in APT fell 7.0% and the IT…

ASX hits 14-month high, ANZ dividend surprise, Nearmap upgrades revenue guidance  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) reached a 14-month high, adding 0.4% and once again nearing a record. The primary driver was the healthcare sector, up 1.1%, with key constituent CSL (ASX:CSL) up 2.4% offering the majority of the support. Private hospital, imaging, and COVID-19 testing firm Healius (ASX:HLS) finished flat despite reporting…

ANZ Bank – 218% profit increase ANZ shares were lower after delivering a slight “miss” on earnings. ANZ’s cash profit rose 218%, to $2.99 billion, which came in at below expectations, but the dividend was better-than-expected. Management declared a 70 cents-a-share dividend, up from 25 cents a year ago, and just below the pre-pandemic final…

RBA holds rates, property lending boom, Seek upgrades guidance, retail recovery on track It was another green day on the market with the ASX200 (ASX:XJO) adding 0.5% on the back of the materials sector, with the gold price jumping significantly. Silverlake Resources (ASX:SLR) and Northern Star (ASX:NST) were among the biggest beneficiaries adding 7.9% and 4.0% respectively. The…

Bank rally not enough, Westpac hike dividend, job ads continue to surprise The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) rose just three points to begin the week, with a powerful day from the financials sector (+1.4%) which represents some 30% of the index not enough to overcome broader weakness. Energy and materials continue to detract amid signs that inflation is being…

Seventh consecutive monthly gain, Beach Energy smashed, ANZ takes $817m profit hit The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) finished Friday on a weaker note, down 0.8% and 0.5% for the week, however was able to deliver a seventh consecutive monthly gain, finishing 3.5% higher for the month of April. The news of the day was the capitulation in Beach Energy’s (ASX:BPT) share…

Mixed day but higher finish, new highs for stalwarts, Woolworths disappoints The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) managed another small gain, adding 0.3%, powered ahead by the technology sector; Afterpay (ASX”APT) and Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) adding 3.5% and 2.5% respectively. With half the sectors down, it was the consumer businesses that were the biggest detractors, Woolworths (ASX:WOW) falling 3.9% after delivering lackluster third quarter sales figures….

Markets rally on weak inflation data, Link deal pulled, JB Hi-Fi CEO stepping down  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) managed to deliver another 0.4% gain with the materials sector the only detractor falling 1.0%. The fall came despite the iron ore price hitting a record of US$193, marking a long recovery from the US$50 lows of 2015. JB HiFi (ASX:JBH) was among…

Superannuation research house Chant West, part of the Zenith Investment Consulting group, this week published its quarterly performance update on the industry fund sector. Despite the volatility experienced in March, which spanned both bond and equity markets, returns continued to surprise on the upside in March. Chant West’s research seeks to differentiate between the (at…

We recently covered the mechanics of short-selling in our article, ‘how short selling really works’. This followed the huge popularity of the investment strategy amid the Reddit and GameStop saga earlier this year. In this article a number of benefits were raised ranging from the additional liquidity it provided to markets, the transparency it demanded…