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.
US Bank woes hurt market despite deposit news
The failure of two major banks in the United States on Friday continued to roil markets, with the US indices – and bond yields – falling over the weekend, and the inevitable follow-on effect saw the Australian market under pressure, too.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Monday finished down 35.9 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7,108.8, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 37.2 points, also 0.5 per cent, to 7,311.
The Australian market at least had the benefit of seeing the news before opening that
the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) had acted promptly to ease fears of a run on banks, announcing that all depositors in the two failed banks would have access to their funds on Monday.
In sympathy, the financial sector led the market lower, with ANZ falling 1.9 per cent to a two-and-a-half-month low of $23.39, Westpac down 1.4 per cent to $21.49, NAB 1.6 per cent weaker at $28.54 and Commonwealth Bank sliding 0.4 per cent to $95.12.
Investment powerhouse Macquarie was off 1.4 per cent to $182.13 while IAG, Suncorp and QBE all lost more than 2 per cent.
Miners picked up the slack, with BHP up 80 cents, or 1.8 per cent to $45.83; Rio Tinto lifting $1.34, or 1 per cent, to $118.46; and Fortescue Metals gaining 38 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $21.76.
Gold’s safe-haven surge lifts producers
Goldminers also reacted well to gold’s surge to a six-week high of $US1,878 an ounce, benefiting from the US bank uncertainty. Northern Star added 52 cents, or 5 per cent, to $11.08, Newcrest improved 69 cents, or 2.9 per cent, to $24.02, and Silver Lake Resources was up 7.6 per cent to $1.06. Among the smaller gold stocks, Capricorn Metals led the market, spiking 15 per cent to $4.36, while Westgold Resources surged 13.4 per cent to $1.06, St Barbara was up 9.4 per cent to 58.5 cents, Regis Resources gained 8.8 per cent to $1.795, Red 5 was up 7.7 per cent to 14 cents and Tietto Minerals jumped 7.1 per cent to 60 cents.
In lithium, producer Allkem lost 17 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $11.16 and fellow producer Pilbara Minerals eased 9 cents, or 2.3 per cent, to $3.89.
The highlight on the industrial screens was biotech star Neuren Pharmaceuticals, which rocketed 18.5 per cent to a 15-year high of $9.09 after its North American partner Acadia Pharmaceuticals received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the company’s treatment for Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disorder mostly affecting girls. Acadia has licensed the drug for use in North America and Neuren is poised to make millions in royalties from the treatment, which is not a cure but alleviates the symptoms. Neuren has more than doubled in the past 12 months.
Five straight downers for the Dow
In the US, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 90.5 points, or 0.3 per cent, to close at 31,819.14, in its fifth straight losing day. However, the Dow was able to recover somewhat after being down more than 284 points at one point. The broader S&P 500 index ended down 5.8 points, or 0.15 per cent, to end at 3,855.76 after falling as much as 1.4 per cent during the session. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 49.96 points, or 0.4 per cent, to close at 11,188.84 points.
In the bond market, the US 10-year yield eased 12.8 basis points to 3.577 per cent, while the 2-year yield, considered more sensitive to interest rate moves, was steady at 4.016 per cent.
European markets closed 2.3 per cent lower, with bank stocks sliding on news that HSBC will rescue the UK subsidiary of the US tech startup lender Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed on Friday, for a nominal £1 cost.
In commodities, gold gained US$34.03, or 1.8 per cent, to US$1,910.43 an ounce, the global benchmark Brent crude oil grade shed US$2.01, or 2.4 per cent, to US$80.77 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude retreated 7 cents to US$74.73 a barrel. The Australian dollar is buying 66.63 US cents, a skerrick higher than the 66.61 US cents at the local ASX close on Monday.
