Good morning and welcome to the Morning Outlook. I’m Rachael Jones reporting live from Kalkine
TV Sydney studio. The Australian share market is expected to end the week with a marginal
gain. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open 0.6% higher
on Friday morning. At the closing bell yesterday, the S&P/ASX 200 was 3 per cent or 215 points
lower at 6,991. All sectors closed in the red. The sector with the fewest losses was
Utilities, down 0.8 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Information Technology, down 6.4
per cent. The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Cimic Group (ASX:CIM), closing
33.4 per cent higher at $22.00. The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Life360 (ASX:360),
closing 28.8 per cent lower at $4.68.
Charter Hall Group tripled their profit for the second half of 2021 to $517.8 million,
from $173.2 million in the second half of 2020 and doubled operating earnings to $263.9
million. Revenues jumped to $566 million, from $248.3 million. Funds under management
climbed to about $79 billion, from about $52 billion. The company will pay an interim dividend
of 8.33¢ a stapled security for the six months ended December 2021. PointsBet doubled gross
profits to $54.7 million in H1 FY2022, from $25.6 million in the first half of the previous
year. Net revenues rose to $139.1 million from $75.1 million. Statutory EBITDA recorded
a loss of $130.6 million, significantly higher than $71.3 million H1 of last year.
Harvey Norman today announced that profit before tax for the half-year ended 31 December
2021 was $612.24 million, a decrease of $31.67 million or –4.9% from the PBT result of
$643.91 million for half-year 2021. Australian franchisees advanced but Ireland recorded
negative 0.1 per cent sales performance in the half to date. The company will pay an
interim dividend of 20¢ a share, fully franked, on May 2.
Meanwhile, Adbri, Auswide Bank, Block, Brambles, Genworth, and Medibank are a few ASX-listed
companies which are scheduled to announce their earnings today. Well bring you these
results as soon as we get them. Now it’s time for a short break – but stay tuned
for more news set to effect the trading day. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Welcome
back to the Morning Outlook report. In late overnight trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones
rose 0.28%, the S&P 500 was up 1.50%, and the NASDAQ ended 3.34% higher. Stocks pared
losses and the US dollar and oil futures pared gains as US President Joe Biden vowed steep
sanctions against Russia for its Ukraine invasion and said that US was working with oil producers
to secure global energy supplies. Biden said that US forces will not fight in Ukraine but
that additional forces would be authorized to go to Germany. Sanctions involved Russian
banks and technology imports. In the global markets, STOXX 50 fell 3.6%, FTSE slipped
3.9%, DAX declined 4% and CAC ended 3.8% lower. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was
last down 1.18% after earlier touching its lowest level since March 2021. Oil prices
inched higher and even touched US$100 per barrel at one point for the first time since
2014 amid developments in Ukraine. WTI settled up 0.77% at US$92.81 per barrel, but well
below its session high of US$100.54. Brent was at US$99.10, up 2.3%, compared with its
session high of US$105.79. Gold prices rose as much as 3% before paring gains. Spot gold
was down 1.1% at US$1,887.00 an ounce after earlier rising as high as US$1,973.96. 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.