Friday 23rd November – Australian Market Wrap | Beeks Downunder-Because not all financial news is boring!

Todays Highlights

ASX 200 closes up 25 to 5716.
High 5724 Low 5678. Light trading volumes.
ASX 200 down 15 pts for the week. Much ado.
Black Friday comes. Trump ready to talk turkey with Xi Jinping.
Banks drive gains. Industrials find buyers. WES bounces.
CSL sags with TLS falling again.
G20 next week the focus.
AUD firms to 72.55c
Bitcoin hit again to US$4224
Aussie Gold steady at $1693.
US futures down 74. Market resumes tonight.
Asian markets saw Japan closed for a holiday and China slightly lower by 1.57%.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

BSL +3.79% AGM positive outlook comments
KMD +12.93% good sales result.
AX1 +12.67% good update.
CGC +5.46% bounces back.
SYR +3.55% rally continues.
AMP +1.65% even AMP rallying.
ARB +3.38% positive broker update
COL +0.71% finding some strength.
TNE -7.12% management sell down.
AHG -6.04% AGM presentation.
VMY +4.76% large seller finished Paradice takes 9.8%.
BAL -3.71% profit taking.
MIN -1.78% book squaring despite upgrades.
CYB -5.28% broker downgrades.
NEA -4.13% profit taking.
MEA +3.33% AGM comments.
LYC -2.74% broker downgrade.
MYR +3.80% AGM beckons.
BWX +5.56% becoming a substantial shareholder.
AGI -6.77% only two cherries.
Speculative stock of the day: Nothing of note.
Biggest risers – KMD, AX1, CGC, SIG, WBA, LOV and OMH.
Biggest fallers – TNE, AHG, ORE, CYB, NWH and MOE.

TODAY

Automotive Holdings (AHG) –6.04% Trading update; operating NPAT July-Oct $11.7m vs $21.3m a year ago, significantly impacted by increased Group interest costs and the negative impact on KTM earnings from foreign exchange movement. FY19 Operating NPAT forecast A$56-59m. Company anticipates a stronger H2 result.
Healthscope (HSO) –1.76% Newswires are today speculating that HSO may be forced to downgrade guidance, following reports about staffing and supply issues at the Northern Beaches Hospital. The main concern for HSO is that Brookfield could cut its offer or remove its takeover interest altogether.
Brickworks (BKW) –1.38% Enters into binding agreement to acquire Ibstock subsidiary Glen-Gery for $151m, to be funded by a committed dollar acquisition bridge facility. Deal expected to complete within the next few days. Low single digit normalised EPS accretion in the first full year of operation, not including any cost or operational synergies. Glen-Gery is America’s fourth-largest brick manufacturer and has leading positions in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
Accent Group (AX1) –12.67% Provides trading update; expects 1H EBITDA to be +15-20% year-on-year. Company reports that results for the first 20 weeks of FY19 have been materially stronger than expected, with LFL sales +2.5% year-on-year. Digital growth stronger than expected. Increased new store openings, with more than 40 stores now targeted to open in FY19 against 30 stores originally planned. New stores opened to date are trading ahead of expectations. Outlook for H2 FY19 has not changed and is still targeting mid-single digit EBITDA growth for H2.
Village Roadshow (VRL) +2.98% Provides trading update at AGM; Gold Coast theme park is trading ahead of expectations, as evidenced by Q1 ticket yields and ticket sales in dollars. Cinema Exhibition division has performed well and is ahead of last year. Roadshow’s year to date trading is encouraging, with FY19 results primarily dependent on future film performances. While current trading is indeed encouraging, company will only consider reinstating the payment of dividends following the end of FY19, if appropriate.
Bluescope (BSL) +3.79% Confirms guidance at AGM, with H1 FY19 EBIT to be around 10% higher than H2 FY18. Domestic sales volumes remain robust, driven by strength in both resi and non-resi construction activity, although spreads have been weaker due to higher coal and iron pore prices. North Star performing well, operating at full capacity. Building Products divisions performing well with robust demand and margins.
Beach Energy (BPT) –1.61% Provides outlook at AGM; FY19 capex guidance unchanged. Management looking to reduce controllable operating costs by 20% in FY20. Also sees opportunities to increase plant reliability, leading to an additional $50m in pre-tax cashflow.
Ainsworth Game Tech. (AGI) –6.77% Trading update. H1 PBT guidance of $8m. Expects 2H to deliver revenue growth and improved profitability. North and Latin America doing well, with higher margins and greater volumes, but conditions in Australian market remain challenging. Revenues and PBT for the Australian segment are expected to be materially lower for H year-on-year. Overall demand has fallen by around 10%.

ECONOMIC NEWS

ASIC in the dock at the Royal Commission. Not pretty.

BOND MARKETS

2-Year bonds down 1bps to yield 2.03%
5-Year yields down 2bps to yield 2.24%
10-Year yields down 3bps to yield 2.65%

ASIAN MARKETS

China has confirmed the first cases of African swine fever in Beijing with culls at the two farms affected by the disease. The total number of hogs slaughtered in the country is now nearly 80,000.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

If you though Ireland was going to a problem for the Brexit deal. Gibraltar is going to be a doozy. The Spanish PM has yet again threatened to veto the deal. Not that it will get through the UK parliament.
Weaker data in US points to less certianty on rate rises.

Carlos Ghosn has been removed as Nissan chairman. ‘Ghosnbusters’. I ain’t afraid of no Ghosns
Trump is enjoying Thanksgiving renewing his attacks on the Chief Justice, John Roberts.
Congress aims to get Trump to punish the Saudis.
CMC Markets profits fall 76% as punters distracted by the hot summer and the England football team. It didn’t come home.
HSBC has cut the pensions of 50,000 former staff by up to GBP2,500. Nice Xmas present.
Finally spare a thought for cryptojunkies. The market value of all cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap.com sank to $138bn, down from about $835bn at the market peak in January.

And finally the Mo Update!

The Mo Update. Target acquired and intercepted.

Reached the $3000 target mainly courtesy of all our lovely subscribers and their generosity. So what now? Shift the target. Now $4000. One week or so to go.

Here is the latest snap shot of the ‘El Chapo’ look.