Good morning and welcome to the Morning Outlook. I’m Rachael Jones reporting live
from Kalkine TV Sydney studio. The Australian shares are expected to fall at the open today
amid threats to economic recover from the Omicron coronavirus variant cases detected in Australia.
On Friday the Australian sharemarket tumbled as new Covid-19 concerns spooked investors. Losses
deepened across all sectors, with energy and travel stocks weighing on the market.
At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 1.7 per cent or 128 points lower at
7,279. Over the week, it closed 1.6 per cent or 117 points lower. With all sectors
closing in the red, energy tumbled 4.6 per cent as the worst-performing sector.
The sector with the fewest losses was consumer staples, down 0.6 per cent.
The major iron ore miners fell as iron ore prices traded lower. Myer
Holdings (ASX:MYR) has signed a binding agreement to refinance its existing credit facilities
with a four-year Asset Based Loan funding package consisting of a secured revolving
credit and term loan facility with J.P. Morgan and Gordon Brothers. The facility size
fluctuates depending on Myer’s asset base with a maximum facility size of A$215 million.
Oceania healthcare delivers improved performance despite covid-19. New Zealand aged care company
Oceania today announced unaudited proforma Underlying Earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $36.5 million for the six month period
ended 30 September 2021, a 19.7%, ($6.0m) increase on the six month period ended 30 September
20201 . Oceania CEO Brent Pattison says that “Oceania has continued to provide a safe,
vibrant and well connected community for our residents
despite the extended Governmental restrictions and costs associated with COVID-19.
Smartpay revenue up 45%
The Board of Smartpay is pleased to announce its half year results to 30
September 2021 of the FY22 Financial Year showing total revenue up 45% on prior year
to $21 million from $14.5 million. Australian acquiring transactional revenue $12.6m
a 99% increase on the prior year of $6.3 million.
And now its time for a short break. Stay tuned
for more news set to affect the trading day. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Welcome back, Im Rachael Jones and you are watching Kalkine media. Wall Street saw a sell-off
on Friday as it reopened after Thanksgiving. The Dow Jones fell 2.5%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.3%,
and the NASDAQ slipped 2.2%. The Dow had its worst day of the year. US markets closed early on
Friday. European stocks saw their biggest sell-off in 17 months. Global shares fell 1.81%, their
biggest down day in more than a year. France's CAC shed 4.8%. The UK's FTSE dropped 3.6%,
while Germany's DAX fell 4.2% and Spain's IBEX lost 5%. The benchmark STOXX 600 index ended 3.7%
lower on the day. MSCI's index of Asian shares outside Japan fell 2.44%. Oil prices plunged
US$10 a barrel on Friday, their largest one-day drop since April 2020, amid fears over the new
variant of the coronavirus. Brent crude settled down to US$72.72 a barrel, a weekly decline of
more than 8%. WTI crude settled down at US$68.15 a barrel, declining more than 10.4% on the week.
Gold prices reversed earlier gains seen amid the move away from riskier assets. Spot gold
prices were down 0.09%. Meanwhile, the most-active January iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity
Exchange ended trading 6.7% lower at 575.50 yuan (US$90.06) a tonne. And the cryptocurrency
market saw huge dips due to the Covid-19 Omicron variant, with bitcoin, ether, XPR and doegecoin
all seeing their prices drop. That’s all for our Morning Outlook report here on Kalkine TV.
Have a great day trading and stay tuned for more market updates and
economic news live throughout the day. This is Rachael Jones signing off for now.