A good late afternoon and thanks for joining us. I’m Holly and you’re watching Kalkine TV
live from Sydney. And you’re watching the Last Trade.
The Australian share market closed up sharply today, gaining 145.20 points or 1.95%
and setting a new 50-day high. The top performing stocks in this index were Novonix
up 13.82% and Pilbara Minerals, up 8.75%. Over the last five days, the index has gained 2.28% and
is currently 0.56% off of its 52-week high. The S&P/ASX200 opened on a positive note in
the first session of 2022, despite many states in the country recording unprecedented number
of COVID-19 daily cases, leading to an increased hospitilisation of infected patients.
Much of the gains can also be attributed to a strong closing on Wall Street on Monday.
The ASX 200 was up by a decent 0.8% or 59.4 points in the first 15-minute trade in the morning.
Zip’s share price started the 2022 year in the red in what has been a mixed day for buy now,
pay later shares. Shares in Openpay Group were also slumping 2.07% today.
Afterpay was slightly in the green, up 0.63% while Humm Group was up
0.56%. Sezzle stock was also trading 1.99% higher. The US market told a similar story with a variety
of movements among BNPL shares. Affirm share price fell 5.32%, while Paypal jumped 3.37%.
The Woolworths share price was edging higher during late afternoon trade. This comes
despite the retail conglomerate facing logistical challenges due to the rapid spread of COVID-19.
The news sent Woolworths shares into positive territory, up 1.55%. Woolworths shelves have
been laid bare in popular Sydney stores due to staff obeying stay-at-home orders.
Macquarie Group has hit a record high today, the first session of the new year.
The company’s shares were up 2.6% just before 2pm. Macquarie is now worth $80.9 billion and by market
capitalisation, is now the third largest bank in Australia, behind Commonwealth Bank and NAB.
The first new listing of 2022, GreenTech Metals, has surged higher in its debut session on the ASX.
The company’s shares were up 32.5% after just over an hour of trading.
The company had raised $5 million at 20¢ a share as part of its initial public
offering. GreenTech is an exploration and development company established to discover,
develop and acquire Australian and overseas projects containing minerals and metals that are
used in the battery storage and electric vehicle sectors. The company currently owns projects
focused on unexplored nickel, copper and cobalt in the West Pilbara and Fraser Range Provinces.
HT&E’s Australian Radio Network has completed its acquisition of Grant Broadcasters for
consideration of $307.5 million on a cash and debt free basis. The transaction will lead
to the creation of a national radio broadcast network with 58 stations, 46 DAB plus stations,
across 33 markets. HT&E will fund the acquisition through its existing cash reserves, financing
facilities and the issuance of HT&E shares. More than 35 million HT&E shares are to be issued to
Grant Broadcasters today meaning it will have a shareholding of 11.55 per cent in HT&E.
WAM Capital has taken its holding of PM Capital Asian Opportunities Fund to 27.4 per cent, with
shareholders accepting its offer for the listed investment company. WAM first levelled a bid at
PAF several weeks ago, rivalling a bit from the M Capital Global Opportunities Fund. When it came to
voting on the PGF offer, however, WAM had used its sizeable shareholding in PAF to block the deal.
The result left the directors of PAF with little choice but to recommend WAM’s offer.
Since PAF’s recommendation, WAM’s shareholding has risen from 16.6 per cent to 17.4 per cent as
PAF shareholders accept the offer. The offer is open until mid-January.
And now, before we move to other updates, lets take a small break.
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Hello and welcome back. Sage this side. Moving on to the cryptocurrency markets.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, a prolific Twitter and bitcoin evangelist,
again set fire to social media on Sunday, 2 January with a tweet storm of bold predictions.
Bukele told his 3.2 million followers bitcoin is going to hit its financial zenith
by climbing to US$100,000 in 2022.
Moving on to the next news in crypto space. The past year saw heightened volatility
in bitcoin price, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency spiked to multiple all-time highs.
The most bullish ‘21 forecasts had bitcoin heading to $100,000,
but it underperformed against expectations in the fourth quarter and dropped below $50,000
at year end although a return of 59.7% for the year is a pass.
And a hot news to look. If breeding horses, building hippodromes and participating in
races sounds like fun, DeRace may be the internet escape you’re looking for. The
first of its kind, DeRace is a decentralised blockchain-based NFT ecosystem that allows
users to breed horses, participate in races and build their own virtual hippodromes.
That’s a wrap folks. Hope you found the market closing commentary informative. We
will be back on tomorrow LIVE from Sydney at 9.30 in the morning with our first
report on pre-market scenario along with the important updates from the global markets,
to prepare you for the trading day. That’s all for now. Take care and stay safe.