Hello everyone! Good morning. This is James live from Kalkine Studio. And you’re watching the
Early Trades. Let’s, get started with our market open report.
The S&P/ASX200 is down just 5.90 points today . The bottom performing stocks in
this index are G.U.D. down 9.06 percent and JANUS HENDERSON GROUP, down 3.84 percent.
The index has lost 2.02 percent for the last
five days but has gained 10.07 percent over the last year to date.
The S&P/ASX 200 has fallen for three straight months and may retest Monday’s lows if today’s
sell-off gains traction. Dip-buyers entered when the benchmark dropped below 7200 two days ago.
The tech, energy, real estate and utilities sectors all falling.
The only two sectors in the black are healthcare and materials.
Among the miners BHP, Fortescue and Rio Tinto are all higher. In the healthcare sector CSL
is up 1 per cent, with Sonic Healthcare adding 0.7 per cent. Santos is down 1.2 per cent after oil
prices slumped to three-month lows, with lending giant Afterpay down 1.4 per cent to $107.33.
All 11 US sectors lost at least 0.9 per cent. The two sectors with the biggest
market weighting here – materials shed 2.48 per cent and financials – shed 2.41 per cent. A dive
in rates helped cushion growth stocks. The tech sector was the pick of a rotten bunch with a loss
of 0.96 per cent. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index finished little changed, down 0.03 per cent.
Coming back to ASX. Trading volumes hit a two-and-a-half-month high here yesterday
during the end-of-the-month rebalance but are likely to dwindle in the run-down to Christmas.
The prospects for a “Santa rally” appear to depend very much on an improved newsflow.
The September-quarter GDP report is today’s
domestic wild card. Economists anticipate the economy contracted 2.7 per cent
under the effects of prolonged lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. Given the volatility
of lockdown-affected data, a surprise in either direction is highly possible.
Looking at the IPOs: Cosmos Exploration lists today at 12 pm AEDT. Cosmos is
a copper-gold-nickel explorer with projects in NSW and Western Australia.
Synlait Milk holds its AGM today.
The dollar was dragged lower as part of a general retreat from risk.
The Aussie was lately down 0.22 per cent at 71.29 US cents.
And now, lets look at the ASX listed companies that are in news today.
ANZ Bank has announced it’s set to face a class action from law firm Phi Finney McDonald covering
certain credit card holders over the period July 2010 to January 2019. The bank said the class
action alleges ANZ’s credit card contracts contravened the Australian Securities and
Investments Commission Act. ANZ shares are down 0.2 per cent to $26.65 in early trade.
Metal detector and wireless communications business Codan has announced plans to acquire
UK-based company Broadcast Wireless Systems Ltd for an upfront payment of $3.7 million
and up to another $4.8 million if earn-out targets are met.
It said the deal will be earnings per share accretive from day one.
Codan shares are down 8 per cent over the past year and last closed at $9.74.
Charter Hall REIT is to acquire a 49 per cent interest in 20 Ampol Fuel and Convenience
retail centres for $50.5 million on a 5 per cent cap rate. The deal will be funded by
existing debt facilities and is expected to leave pro-forma gearing at 34 per cent.
Charter Hall REIT also said it now expects FY 2022’s earnings per unit
to finish at the top of its prior guidance range between 27.2¢ per share
and 28.2¢ per unit. Full-year dividends are expected to be no less than 24.3¢ per unit.
Troubled casino operator Crown Resorts has officially appointed Dr Ziggy Switkowski
as its new chairman following the receipt of all required regulatory approvals. Switkowski
replaces interim chairwoman Jane Halton. Crown is the subject of a takeover offer from private
equity group Blackstone valuing it at $12.50 per share. Shares last closed at $11.02.
Salesforce shares tumbled in the afterhours this morning after the CRM platform and owner
of Slack Technologies guidance for FY 2022 revenues missed analysts’ estimates.
Well, that’s all for now on the early morning trades! Stay
tuned to Kalkine TV as we have many more shows lined up for you for sharing live
updates across the economy, markets, and sectors. This is James signing off!