Thursday 29th July – Australian Market WrapASX 200 up 38 to 7317 (0.5%). | Beeks Downunder-Because not all financial news is boring!

HIGH 7419 LOW 7393. Narrow range. Olympic focus.

MAJOR MOVERS: Winners: IRE, VUL, BET, ALK, PNV, STX, PDN Losers: IMU, AVZ, RSG, CMM, 88E, DBI

POSITIVE SECTORS: Big iron ore miners. Gold. Tech. BNPL.
NEGATIVE SECTORS: REITs. Defensives.
BIG BANK BASKET: Unchanged at $177.49
ALL -TECH INDEX: Up 2.3%.
GOLD: Rises to AUD $2461.
BITCOIN: US$39853. Slipping slightly.
AUD: Stronger at 73.78c. 10-YEAR YIELD: 1.15%
ASIAN MARKETS: Japan up 0.6% HK soars 2.8% China up 1.6%
US FUTURES: Dow futures up 10. NASDAQ down 40.

ASX 200 up 30 points to 7410 (0.5%). Big miners lead the charge post RIO dividend generosity, BHP rose 1.6% and RIO up 1.5% with S32 up 1.4%. Healthcare better with RMD up 1.7% again and CSL rallying %. Industrials generally firm with tech better, BNPL in the green with APT up % and Z1P up 0.5%. The All–Tech Index rose 2.3%. The Big Banks lagged after Sydney recorded another record number of cases. The basket closed unchanged at $177.49. MQG rose 0.3% after its update. REITs on the nose today. In corporate news, all about quarterlies. MIN up 3.7% and ORE added 1.9%. RSG down 7.1% on production numbers. SFR up 1.2% on production numbers. RIO up 1.5% following results last night. FMG firmed 1.9% on production numbers. IRE up 13.9% on guidance and a share buyback announcement – another positive pre-results ‘confession’. PBH in a trading halt as it looks to launch a $400m capital raising. SGP down 2.5%, CFO Tiernan O’Rourke steps down. On the economic front, the export price index rose 13.2% in the June quarter, import prices rose 1.9%.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

IRE +13.91% bid approach from PE. Limited DD allowed.
VUL +9.74% quarterly.
VXR +4.61% Sulphur springs project update.
BET+9.19% PBH goes big and raises $400m.
Z1P +5.79% APT +3.08% BNPL bounce.
KED +5.26% quarterly presentation.
IMU –9.09% Placement and SPP.
NSR -1.85% quarterly report.
NXL +1.20% MQG says no corners cut in float.
SGP -2.48% leadership team announcement.
FCL -1.52% quarterly activities.
3DP -11.58% enterprise sales and ACV update.
TNT +14.29% good quarterly run rate.
WZR +9.09 good quarterly.
EGR +8.82% funding for expansion of battery anode facility.
FMG +1.90% production report.
BLD -0.81% last day for bid.
DTC +6.64% rally continues.
PDN +6.12% uranium rally.
Speculative Stock of the Day: Red Sky Energy (ROG) +28.57% SA government has approved operations at Killanoola PRL13. Not much volume though.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

IOOF Holdings (IFL) -unchanged- Q4 funds under management $213.3bn, up $9.4bn over the quarter.Expects to record a $200m one-off non-cash impairment charge. IFL note that the impairment will not impact underlying profit or final dividend.
NextDC (NXT) +3.30% To acquire the S4 Data centre site in Western Sydney for $124m. S4 is a long-term expansion site that will provide data centre services to Hyperscale Cloud Providers in a new Availability Zone within the Sydney market not currently serviced by NXT’s existing data centres (S1, S2 and S3, which is currently under development).
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) +2.13% Rejects Wesfarmers $1.38 offer, the board noting the offeris not compelling and is not in the best interests of API shareholders
Woodside (WPL) +0.32% There is new speculation that a deal for BHP’s US$15bn sale of oil assets to Woodside is imminent.
Ramelius Resources (RMS) +1.86% Full-year production 272.1Koz at an AISC of $1,317/oz vs revised guidance 275-280Koz at an AISC of $1,280 – 1,330/oz.
Sandfire Resources (SFR) +1.17% Full-year gold production of 39,459oz. Expects FY22 gold production of 30-33koz. Confirms copper production of 70,845t. C1 costs of US$0.82/lb vs guidance of US$0.80-0.85/lb.
CSR (CSR) -unchanged- Sells final 12.4 hectares of land at Horsley Park for $124m. The sale is expected to generate property EBIT of -$62m and is anticipated to be recorded in the financial year ending 31-March-2025.
Stockland (SGP) -2.48% CFO Tiernan O’Rourke steps down, will remain until late 2021 to facilitate a smooth transition.
Fortescue Metals (FMG) +1.90% Full-year 182.2mt total ore shipped vs company guidance 178-182mt. Average revenue of $135/dmt, realising 88% of the average Platts 62% CFR Index. C1 coast (US$/wmt) 13.93 vs company guidance US$13.50-$14.00/wmt. In FY22 sees iron ore shipments of 180-185mt and C1 cost of $15.00 – $15.50/wmt.
Splitit Payments (SPT) -2.02% Q2 merchant sales volume US$90.3m vs year-ago US$65.4m. Gross revenue US$2.8m vs year-ago US$2.4m. Total Merchants 2.8K vs year-ago 1K. Total shoppers 566K vs year-ago 309K.
IRESS (IRE) +13.91% Advises that it received and rejected a confidential, unsolicited, non-binding offer from EQT of $15.30-15.50/share, cash. Announces it will launch a 12-month on-market share buyback of up to $100m. First half pro-forma profit of $27.1m vs year-ago $24.9m.
Johns Lyng Group (JLG) +2.78% Acquires 60% controlling equity interest in Steamatic Australia for $10.8m in cash and shares, plus a potential future earn-out based on the financial performance of FY22 and FY23. It is expected to be immediately earnings accretive.
iCar Asia (ICQ) -unchanged- Grants Carsome 6-weeks of exclusivity to undertake due diligence for its conditional, non-binding 55c offer.
Macquarie Group (MQG) +0.29% ObservesImproved trading conditions with 1Q22 operating group contribution significantly up on the pcp which had mixed trading conditions. Group capital surplus of $7.4bn at the end of June vs $8.8bn at the end of the march quarter. Bank CET1 Level 2 ratio 12.1% vs 12.6% in the March quarter. Updated its annual dividend payout policy range to 50-70%, down from the previous target of between 60-80%.
PointsBet Holdings (PBH) -Halt- Q4 turnover of $986.1m vs year-ago $349.4m. Gross win margin 10.0% vs year-ago 12.4%. Australian active clients 196.6k, +117% vs year ago. The Company continues to be well funded to achieve its strategic objectives and planned activities. To launch fully underwritten $400m capital raising, 1 for 9 entitlement offer to raise $184.9m at 800c. Institutional placement to raise $215.1m at 1000c. Co-founders to sell down a portion of their holdings.

ECONOMIC NEWS/ BOND MARKETS

Export price index rose 13.2% this quarter and 26.0% through the year.
Import price index rose 1.9% this quarter and fell 2.5% through the year.
The exchange rate had a small upward impact on export prices and small downward impact on import prices this quarter.

The main contributors to the rise were:

Metalliferous ores and metal scrap (+18.5%), driven by the demand for iron ore from China and constrained global supply.
Coal, coke and briquettes (+15.6%), reflecting the demand for thermal coal for household power production in Asia.
Gas, natural and manufactured (+14.6%), due to the oil-linked contracts capturing the continued rise in oil prices in early 2021.
Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials (+12.0%), driven by stronger oil demand and reduced global supply.
Meat and meat preparations (+10.1%), due to constrained global meat supply driving price rises across both beef and lamb.

The main contributors to the rise were:

Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials (+10.2%), driven by stronger oil demand and reduced global supply.
Fertilisers (excluding crude) (+18.3%), driven by strong global and domestic demand amid favourable planting conditions.
Iron and steel (+11.8%) due to global construction demand outpacing supply.
Non-ferrous metals (+8.9%), driven by strong demand in both manufacturing and construction globally.
Plastic in primary form (+12.8%), driven strong demand and constrained supply.
The main offsetting contributor was:
Telecommunications and sound recording equipment (-2.9%), due to the discounting of older model mobile phones.

IN THE NEWS

Stubblety-Cook wins Gold. Clearly not in it for the money.

S&P Global Ratings expects residential house prices to rise by 10% this year and next

CV19 NEWS

Sydney hits new record. 239. Fines increased. Expecting things to get worse.
The Tokyo Olympics found 24 new coronavirus cases related to the event on Thursday, three of them among athletes.
Australian Athletics team in iso after US case.
Disney has mandated facemasks at theme parks.

1.5m Pfizer doses left the US for Thailand yesterday.
Vaccine Tracker 3.98bn doses in 180 countries. 37.7m. In Australia, 160,533 does, good jump and now only 5 months until 75%.

ASIAN MARKETS

Tencent has become Ninecent after huge US$170bn wipeout.

Nine of top 10 market value losers in July are Chinese firms
China injects cash to shore up the market. PBOC adds 30 billion yuan with seven-day reverse repos.

India’s steel consumption is set to break records this year. Demand for steel is expected to surge 17% to 110 million tons in the year started April.
China has sent a high-profile pig billionaire to jail for 18 years in a strong signal not to challenge the Communist party. His crimes and misdemeanours, gathering people to attack state agencies, obstructing public administration and “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”

US AND EUROPEAN NEWS