Hi welcome back, I am Rachael and you are watching Kalkine TV live from Sydney.
This is The Stocks in Action show. Lets have a look at ASX 200 and the ASX listed stocks
that are trending today. The week ending 21 May 2021 witnessed Australian indices ending
their session in green at 7 thousand 30.3, up 0.15 per cent. The benchmark index was
constantly on the move last week however closed positively on a weekly basis with a 0.23 per
cent rise as local tech stocks took cues from an upbeat Wall Street session on signs of
a pick-up in US jobs growth this month. Today, The S&P/ASX200 is down just 6.50 points today
to 7 thousand 23.80. The bottom performing stocks in this index are THE A2 MILK COMPANY
down 3.06 per cent and AMP, down 2.89 per cent. Over the last five days, the index is
virtually unchanged, but is currently 2.08 per cent below its 52-week high.
Sectors are mixed today along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. 5 sectors are higher and 6 are
lower. Information Technology is the best performing sector, gaining 0.38 per cent and
5.15 per cent for the past five days. On that note let us quickly glance through some
major market movements globally. On Friday, the majority of the US stocks ended lower, with
consumer discretionary and technology shares taking the hardest hit, while the US dollar
gained some ground after stronger-than-expected US manufacturing data. The US Treasury yields
eased as investors mostly shrugged off the data. Data firm IHS Markit revealed that US
manufacturing purchase managers index rose to 61.5 in the first half of May 2021, the
highest reading since October 2009. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index falling
to 60.2 in early May. The Dow Jones rose 0.36 per cent, to 34 thousand 207.84, while
the S&P 500 lost 0.08 per cent, to 4 thousand 155.86. NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.48 per
cent and closed the session at 13 thousand 470.99.
The rising COVID-19 cases globally remain a concern. According to the World Health Organisation,
official death tolls attributed to the coronavirus pandemic are likely to be a "significant undercount".
Approximately 6 million to 8 million people may have died so far, says WHO, compared to
the reported figure of around 3.4 million. On Friday, the benchmark 10-year Treasury notes
rose 3/32 in price to yield 1.6233 per cent, from 1.634 per cent on Thursday. The US dollar
index rose 0.27 per cent to 90, while the Australian and New Zealand dollars traded
lower on Friday, taking their lead from iron ore and mining stocks that have been hit after
Beijing vowed to put a halt on the soaring commodities prices. In the cryptocurrency
market, Bitcoin fell sharply over 10 per cent after China doubled down on its efforts to
prevent speculative and financial risks by cracking down on the mining and trading of
Bitcoin. The crypto fell 11.5 per cent to US$35 thousand 952.05 with its peers, Dogecoin
losing 11.3 per cent to 30.3 cents and Ethereum falling 8.8 per cent to 2 thousand 95 dollars
and 5 US cents. On Thursday, the Fed flagged the risks cryptocurrencies posed to financial
stability, while the US Treasury Department called for new rules that would require large
cryptocurrency transfers to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. And now, before
we head to other important market updates, lets take a small break, but don’t go anywhere
as I’ll be back in a short while.
Welcome back to the stocks in action show, now, lets look at some commodity updates.
Gold prices inched lower on Friday as robust US manufacturing data helped the dollar rebound
from the lower levels. However, the yellow metal was still able to register a third straight
weekly gain. Asia's iron ore benchmark marked its third losing day on Friday, its second
consecutive weekly fall, as the largest steel producer, China, stepped up efforts to cool
a soaring demand-driven rally in raw material prices. Iron ore futures for September delivery
on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange closed daytime trading 3.4 per cent lower at 1 thousand
96.50 yuan that’s around $220.87 a tonne. It had fallen 5.4 per cent last week, the
steepest drop since mid-March.
Oil prices jumped around 2 per cent after three days of losing streak, with investors
watching a storm brewing up over the western Gulf of Mexico. However, prices fell on a
weekly basis as investors braced for supplies from Iran after officials said Iran and world
powers made progress on a nuclear deal. Crude oil prices are trading higher on Monday, followed
by a significant 2 per cent gain on Friday amid cyclone fears in the Gulf of Mexico. Brent
crude oil futures for August delivery traded 0.14 per cent up at US$66.44 per barrel whereas,
WTI crude oil futures for July delivery traded at US$63.70 per barrel, 0.19 per cent up as
of 24 May 2021 at 10:00 AM Australian Eastern Standard time. ON FRIDAY, the US National
Hurricane Center stated that a weather system over the western Gulf of Mexico has 40 per
cent chances of becoming a cyclone; however, the most recent update from the centre states
that the system has weakened. Despite a significant rise on Friday, crude oil witnessed
its first weekly loss in May due to a strong sell-off in commodities amid the progress
of the US-Iran nuclear deal. Rising coronavirus cases in Asia and higher inflation concerns
from Europe, China, and the US are offsetting crude oil gains. And now, before we move
on the ASX listed stocks that are trending today, lets take a small break, but don’t
go anywhere as I’ll be back in a short while.
Welcome back to the stocks in action show. Let’s have a look at some MAJOR NEWS from
the ASX listed companies. Healthcare sector will be dominating this Stocks in Action session
along with Consumer sector and Mining. Lets have a look at the first big news.
Australian Potash has received firm commitments from investors for a placement of $ 10 million.
This will be accomplished via two-tranche placement. The funds extracted will be
used for Pre-development activities at the Lake Wells sulphate of potash Project and
Starting the maiden downhole hammer programme across the Laverton Downs nickel sulphide target
areas. The Company also confirmed that total 62 million 221 thousand and 428 shares will
be issued in the first tranche at 14 cents per share.
Moving on to the next big news Uscom’s digital ultrasonic SpiroSonic AIR spirometer
has secured the CE mark approval. The SpiroSonic AIR is the leading technology in spirometry using Uscom’s patented
multi-path digital ultrasonic technology, wireless induction charging and BT4 wireless
communications.
The CE mark stands for legal compliance with health, safety and environmental standards
set by the European community. This mark is essential for the sale of new medical technologies
into the European Economic Area. Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN) reports intersection of broad sulphide
zones at Yarabrook Hill near Perth. The drilling is now finished following the completion
of two holes at Yarabrook Hill for a total of 601.6 metres. Both the holes have encountered
significant widths of sulphides. Moving on to the next big news Infinity Lithium Corporation
presented an update on its San José Lithium Project in Spain at the European Battery Alliance
Day in Madrid. San José is a fully integrated industrial Project focused on the production
of battery-grade lithium chemicals. It is the 2nd Largest JORC hard rock lithium deposit
in the EU and located in Spain, the 2nd largest market for battery-grade lithium after
China. The project has also secured the EIT InnoEnergy Funding. The mine has
an adjacent conversion plant and reports a low carbon footprint and sustainable operations.
Australia's Zip Co reports today that it is set to acquire two buy-now-pay-later (BNPL)
companies operating in Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a combined consideration
of about $160 million. The company said it will buy all the remaining shares of European
BNPL company Twisto Payments and in the Middle East-focused peer Spotti Holdings
Ltd, operational in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Zip is building its playbook in successfully identifying,
completing, and integrating strategic acquisitions. Twisto and Spotii are now well-positioned to leverage the benefits of this competency
and the synergies of a truly global payments organisation. Twisto and Spotii are
integrated into Zip’s global Single Merchant Interface (SMI), which provides merchants
instant access to 11 countries across five continents. Zip has adopted a similar approach
to Quadpay too and this was highly successful.
Alright then, that’s all for now. Stay tuned with Kalkine TV for more live market
updates. We will be back with more news on markets, economy and diverse themes and
sector.