At The Close: Banks Help Market Recover
Sellers returned to the ASX on Thursday with miners getting the most attention. A turnaround for banks helped the market recover from session lows.
Read MoreSellers returned to the ASX on Thursday with miners getting the most attention. A turnaround for banks helped the market recover from session lows.
Read MoreOn Monday Yanzhou, the big Chinese coal company, pulled its mop up bid for its 78% local arm, Yancoal (YAL). While there wasn’t any explanation, the weak state of the coal industry here and in China undoubtedly played a part.
Read MoreMelbourne-based retail group, Premier Investments (PMV) has lifted interim dividend one cent a share to 20c a share after reporting a 12% rise in net profit for the first half of 2012-13.
Read MoreTPG Telecom (TPM) has upgraded its earnings guidance, beating analyst expectations for its interim profit and raised industry speculation it could make a move on rival telecommunications provider iiNet (IIN).
Read MoreThe health of Australia’s financial system will get a big tick this week in the Reserve Bank’s first report on financial stability for 2014, to be released later today.
Read MoreThe ASX 200 consolidated on its early gain gains to finish with in sight of session highs on Wednesday. Banks and Miners led the way. The government announced the sale of Medibank with an IPO expected in the 2014/15 financial year.
Read MoreBuyers have returned to the local sharemarket on Wednesday with every ASX sector trading higher at lunchtime led by the miners.
Read MoreSo much for the impact of the weak Chinese manufacturing survey yesterday – it rattled local markets briefly but the Aussie market was higher by the end of the day after starting out lower. The Aussie dollar fell around a third of a cent on the news of the slower than expected data, but then bounced sharply overnight in offshore trading to hit new 2014 highs in the US.
Read MoreMacquarie Group (MQG) will have a better final quarter than many of its larger peers on Wall Street and in Europe and Japan, judging by the Australian bank’s near end of financial year trading update yesterday.
Read MoreOnce or twice a year for the last three years, dual-listed retailer Kathmandu (KMD) produces figures that surprise the market and underline how its merchandising and retailing skills produce consistently better results than those from bigger, less specialised chains.
Read MoreThe Federal Government did everything it could to allow Chinese group Yanzhou Coal Mining to take full control of its Australian associate, Yancoal Australia (YAL) (the old Gloucester Mining).
Read MoreThe ASX 200 spent the afternoon recovering from the lows of the session which were seen in early trade. Miners were a part of the improved tone in the afternoon with BHP and RIO leading gains for the sector.
Read MoreAussie market under pressure: banks and retail lower. gold stocks hit by slump in gold overnight. Premier investments stronger.
Read MoreBanks and retail stocks under pressure while the miners lift. Kathmandu (KMD) higher on strong sales.
Read MoreIt’s the Reserve Bank’s week in Australia this week, with four speeches and public appearances from the governor Glenn Stevens and his deputy Phil Lowe, plus the release of one of the bank’s major reports on the Australian economy – its first financial stability assessment for 2014.
Read MoreThe Aussie dollar ended the week on a solid note and is again within sight of the 91 USc mark and looking to remain around that level.
Read MoreGold futures finished higher on Friday night, our time, recovering some of the losses from a four-session losing streak.
Read MoreThe ASX 200 showed resolve to end higher despite weaker data out of China. Financial stocks were encouraged by a profit upgrade from Macquarie Bank.
Read MoreLocal stocks have consolidated in early trade on Friday following the losses inspired by the US Fed on Thursday.
Read MoreWestfield (WDC) has slimmed down its involvement in the UK market by selling three of its smaller UK shopping centres for a profit of $1.1 billion.
Read MoreBig global investors have become more cautious because of the tensions in Ukraine crisis and the slowing Chinese economy and spate of company collapses.
Read MoreMyer (MYR) went backwards, as forecast in the six months to January 25, leaving rival David Jones (DJS) better placed in the two horse race between the two department store retailers.
Read MoreA day after we had Stockland (SGP) and Australand (ALZ) and possibly Wotif (WTF) emerge as possible takeover situations, Brambles (BXB), the big logistics group, emerged in a situation in Singapore that got hearts a’fluttering on a day when the wider market was decidedly weak.
Read MoreThe ASX 200 continued its recovery on Friday afternoon to finish at the best levels of the session helped by gains for the bulk miners. Over the course of the week the ASX 200 has gained 0.16%.
Read MoreSneaky, sneaky Metcash (MTS) – no wonder its shares were battered this morning after pushing out a profit downgrade on Thursday evening, and then the long awaited business revamp this morning.
Read MoreCommSec’s Juliette Saly provides a mid-session update. Stocks are lower following weakness on Wall Street, while Myer has updated the market.
Read MoreThe US Federal Reserve has signalled that interest rates could start rising earlier than previously expected after its March meeting ended earlier this morning with the central bank altering its forecasts for the economy over the next year and changing the criteria for returning rates to more normal levels.
Read MoreMeanwhile Wotif (WTF), the online accommodation and travel business, is also in play after someone grabbed a stake of 7.5 million shares in the company before trading opened yesterday morning.
Read MoreA couple of possible takeover situations appeared on the ASX yesterday.
Read MoreForget the lower net profit from David Jones (DJS) yesterday and concentrate on the details of the financial result – they show the retailer is getting its act together.
Read MoreThe possibility of US interest rates rising sooner than expected pushed local stocks lower on Thursday with sellers concentrating on the resource sector which was the worst performing sector on the day.
Read MoreDavid Jones (DJS) shares rose 1% yesterday after the market got the first dose of sense from the retailer about the future treatment of the merger proposal from Myer (MYR).
Next week’s interim profit report from Nufarm (NUF) must be poor – why else would the company reveal a revamp of its Australian business well ahead of the figures due on March 26?
Read MoreWell, for a central bank that spent the last three months of 2013 moaning and groaning about the high value of the Australian dollar – and even warning of possible intervention, yesterday’s minutes from the Reserve Bank’s March board meeting were remarkably devoid of any serious mention of the currency and its value – which remains above 91 USc this morning.
Read MoreThe Australian sharemarket rose for the second day, with almost all sectors finishing higher. David Jones fell despite a strong earnings result while Stockland made a significant purchase.
Read MoreThe ASX 200 ignored overnight gains on Wall St with sellers getting the edge in early trade, although at lunchtime the market had recovered to be flat.
Read MoreCommSec’s Juliette Saly provides a Mid-session financial market update. Local stocks are rising sharply in early trade following a positive offshore lead.
Read MoreShares in Lend Lease (LLC) rose 1.5% to $11.45 yesterday, while Transurban (TCL) securities were half a per cent higher at $7.26 after the news that the winning builders had been chosen to construct one of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects in the past couple of years.
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