Friday 20th August – Australian Market Wrap | Beeks Downunder-Because not all financial news is boring!

ASX 200 falls 4 points to 7461

ASX 200 down four points to 7461.

HIGH 7512 LOW 7454 – Can’t fight CV19 headwinds.

MAJOR MOVERS:

Winners: EBL SGF WSA MYS TWE MAF ING LOV

Losers: YAL LKE 88E VUL COH SYA FFX

POSITIVE SECTORS: Defensives.
NEGATIVE SECTORS: Resources. Banks. Energy
ASX 200 down around 2.2% for the week
BIG BANK BASKET: Unchanged at $180.75
ALL -TECH INDEX: Down 0.4%% APT down 0.8%
GOLD: Rallies to AUD $2501
BITCOIN: US$47053 Kicks higher.
AUD: Eases to 71.32c
10-YEAR YIELD: Drops to 1.08%
ASIAN MARKETS: Tokyo down 0.87%, Hong Kong down 1.59%, China down 1.6%
US FUTURES: Dow futures down 60. NASDAQ down 26

ASX 200 falls four points (-0.1%) to 7461 as early gains evaporate in the face of increasing lockdowns and CV19 cases. Resources tried hard to hold up despite iron ore falls but succumbed in the end, with BHP falling 0.7% and MIN off 2.4%. Rare earths took a battering as LYC fell 6.9%, Malaysian political issues not helping, lithium stocks were depressed, PLS down 5.6%, ORE now merged dropped 5.7%. Energy stocks also on the nose. Banks turned slightly negative with the Big Bank Basket down to $180.75 and MQG off 0.9%. Healthcare and defensives were slightly better, WOW, COL and GMG standouts. Results and reactions again in focus, TWE did well following good broker commentary, good results from ING up 4.6% though COH fell 7.4% despite good numbers.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

RBL +15.66% kicks again on broker upgrades.
WSA +6.79% Twiggy buys in.
TWE +5.60% brokers positive on results.
ING +4.60% love ‘em.
KGN +4.33% Afterpay day driving sales.
88E -% sell-off continues.
LKE -10.53% commodity stocks sold off.
LYC -6.91% rare earths under pressure and Malaysian politics.
PLS -5.61% lithium depressed.
JMS -5.56% manganese follows iron ore.
COH -7.43% results falling on deaf ears.
AXE -18.14% ASX query and response to media.
AMS +12.12% good broker upgrades.
KLL +5.71% Macquarie research.
HUM +7.73% positive comments on results.
Speculative Stock of the Day: IDT Australia +19.57% good volume after ASX speeding ticket yesterday on vaccine manufacture discussions with VicGov and MIPS.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Yancoal Australia (YAL) -11.79% First half profit -$129m ex-items vs year-ago -$37m. Revenue $1.78bn vs year-ago $1.97bn. Operating EBITDA $406m vs year-ago $488m. In FY21 sees cash operating costs (ex govt royalties) of $62 to $64/tonne vs prior guidance of $60 to $62/tonne.
PWR Holdings (PWH) – Full-year profit $16.8m vs year-ago $13.0m.Revenue $79.2m vs year-ago $65.7m and consensus $84.5m. Final dividend 6c (fully franked) vs year-ago 4c. To deliver on current and future opportunities, PWR expects headcount to increase from 363 at 30-Jun to 450+ by Dec-2022. The quantum of FY22 capital investment is expected to be similar to FY21.
New Hope Corp (NHC) -2.04% Q4 saleable coal production 2,817Kt vs quarter-ago 2,286K. Coal sold 2,713Kt vs year-ago 2,497Kt.
Cleanaway Waste Management (CWY) +3.91% Full-year underlying EBITDA $535.1m vs consensus $534.5m. Revenue $2.41bn vs consensus $2.36bn. Final dividend to 2.35c vs year-ago 2.10c.
Inghams Group (ING) +4.60%Full-year underlying profit (pre-AASB 16) $101.2m vs consensus $89.0m.Revenue $2.67bn vs consensus $2.67bn. Group Core Poultry Volume 446.9kt. Final dividend 7.5c/share, fully franked.
Cochlear (COH) -7.43% Full-year underlying net profit $236.7m vs consensus $244.6m. Revenue $1.49bn vs consensus $1.49bn. Final dividend 140c (unfranked) FY22 Guidance: Net profit $265-285m. Capex $70-90m. The Board is committed to maintaining the dividend policy which targets a 70% payout of underlying net profit.
Smartgroup (SIQ) +0.67% First half profit $33.5m vs year-ago $32.1m.Revenue $109.4m vs year-ago $111.4m. Interim dividend 17.5c.
TPG Telecom (TPG) -0.45% Reports first-half EBITDA of $886m vs year-ago $531m and consensus of $863.0m. Net profit $76m vs year-ago $83m, revenue $2.63bn vs year-ago $1.54bn and consensus of $2.71bn. Announced an interim dividend 8.0cps, fully franked.
Sydney Airport (SYD) -0.26% Reports Full-year net profit – $97.4m vs year-ago – $53.6m. Revenue $351.0m vs year-ago $511.0m, EBITDA $187.9m ex-items vs year-ago $323.5m. Announced further that there would be no interim distribution. Outlook: “Board remains open to engaging with Sydney Aviation Alliance should they be prepared to lift their offer.”
Stockland (SGP) -0.66% Reports Full-year fund from operations per unit of $0.331 vs guidance A$0.325-0.331 and consensus of $0.33. Revenue $2.76bn vs year-ago $2.81bn. Statutory Net profit $1.11bn vs consensus $757.4m. Announced a final distribution 13.3cps. FY22 guidance: “FFO per unit A$0.346-0.356. Distribution per security between 75-85% of FFO.”
St. Barbara (SBM) -3.12% To incur non-cash impairment in the range of – $250m to – $300m in its FY21 results.
Adairs (ADH) +1.90% Reports Full-year EBIT $109.1m vs consensus $109.7m. Underlying Net profit $75.4m vs consensus $73.3m with total sales $499.8m vs consensus of $491.1m. Final dividend 10.0cps, fully franked. Trading update: FY22 first 7 weeks – “Total Group -11.7% on the year, LFL +5.2% on the year, Total Adairs -16.1% on the year, LFL +2.9% on the year, Mocka +16.1% on the year. In the first seven weeks of FY22 c.40%3 of store trading days have been lost due to Government-mandated lockdown. Given uncertainty relating to COVID-19 the board does not consider it appropriate to provide guidance for FY22 at this time.”

ECONOMIC NEWS/ BOND MARKETS

ECONOMIC DATA

Livestock products (seasonally adjusted)

Cattle slaughtered in the June 2021 quarter increased 3.4% to 1.5m -Beef production in the June 2021 quarter increased 3.1% to 465,100 tonnes.
Chickens slaughtered in the June 2021 quarter increased 1.7% to 172.5m.

CV19 NEWS

NZ extends lockdown by four days as cases grow.
NSW reports 642 new cases and extends lockdown for a month.
Vaccine Tracker: In Australia, the latest vaccination rate is an average of 246,421 doses a day. 3 months to cover 75%.

ASIAN MARKETS

Toyota is cutting global production by around 40% in September on chip shortage.
China Telecom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, surged 16% over its offer price of 4.53 yuan on its first day of trading today in Shanghai.
China continues to take on big tech with tough new data protection laws. Known as the Personal Information Protection Law, required firms to get user consent to collect, use and share information, and to provide a way for them to opt out. Tech stocks tumble on the news.

US AND EUROPEAN NEWS