A good late afternoon and thanks for joining us. I’m Sage and you’re watching Kalkine TV
live from Sydney. This is the last show of the day - The Last Trade. There’s no
better way to wind down the day and the week than with today’s market close commentary. In
today’s show we will look at the overall ASX200 performance of the day and we will
also explore gainers and losers. We will look at the details of the companies that were
in the news today like BHP Group, Pilbara Minerals, Strike Energy and much more. I will
share trending updates from the Asian markets in the last segment, along with a special
report on cryptocurrencies…… So let’s dive straight in…..
The Australian shares ended lower on Wednesday, snapping two session gaining streak, as weak
global cues and concerns about economic impact of COVIDI-19 pandemic weighed on the market
sentiment. The sell-off in blue chips miner and energy stocks also dragged the market
lower.
The benchmark index, the ASX 200, ended 0.27 per cent lower. Early today, the index opened
lower and declined as much as 0.7 per cent to hit an intraday low of 7,379 points. The
market width, indicating the overall strength, was negative as seven of 11 sectors settling
in negative terrain. The energy sector was the worst performer with a 2.1 per cent loss.
It was followed by the utilities sector, which dropped 1.5 per cent. Among others, material,
industrial, consumer stapled and consumer discretionary also closed in red. Meanwhile,
the A-REIT sector was the biggest gainer, closing 1.3 per cent higher. It was followed
by health care, information technology, which also rose over 1 per cent.
Snapping three session gaining streak, the energy sector emerged as top laggard today
as investors took some breather after recent rally. AGL Energy was the worst performer
in the sector, followed by Beach Energy, Santos, Woodside Petroleum, and Oil Search, among
others. The materials sector also witnessed selling pressure, ending two sessions gain,
amid continued fall in iron ore prices. The price of Iron ore fell further by 1.8 per
cent a tonne after new steel curbs in China. As per report, China’s southwest Yunnan
province has asked local producers to restrict output on steel, aluminum and other materials.
Index heavyweights BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group closed lower. In the
banking space, three of four major lenders – ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank and NAB ended
lower. Westpac however settled marginally higher.
Let’s look at the top gainers and losers of the day.
The energy company AGL Energy topped the losers’ chart by falling 7.1 per cent. Some of the
other worst performers were professional services business Worley, oil producer Beach Energy,
asset management firm Janus Henderson, and bookmaker PointsBet Holdings. On the flip
side, lithium miner Pilbara Minerals emerged as the top gainer by rising 8.9 per cent.
Some of the other notable gainers were agribusiness firm Elders, consumer discretionary firm G8
Education.
And now, its time for a small break but stay tuned on kalkine tv for more trending market
updates
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Hello and welcome back. Sage here, you are watching market closing commentary on kalkine
tv.
Let’s shift our lens to the stocks that the investors attention today.
First up. Shares of blue-chip miner BHP Group dropped over 3 per cent, in line with other
mining stocks due to the fall in iron ore price. The company in an exchange filing said
this afternoon that it will be hosting an investor and analyst briefing today on the
Jansen project. The company said it erred by building shafts for its first potash mine
that were bigger than required. It has spent close to US$3 billion over the past eight
years at the Jansen project in Saskatchewan. Last month, it announced to spend another
US$5.7 billion over the next six years to complete the first phase of the mine.
Next, Shares of Silver Lake Resources rose marginally after the gold miner provided its
outlook to the 2024 financial year. The miner expects to report sales growth between 255
- 275,000 ounces per year, driven by low cost, high margin Deflector region. It also forecasted
a strong free cash flow profile as the Deflector region accelerates underground development
in the financial year 2022 which reduces in financial year 2023 and financial year 2024.
Moving on. Shares of Pilbara Minerals jumped as much as 11.9 per cent to hit a 52-week
high of AU$2.53 on Wednesday. The stock price rallied after the miner disclosed the result
of its second lithium spodumene concentrate digital auction. In an ASX announcement last
night, the company said it intended to accept the highest bid of US$2240 per dry metric
tonne for its intended 8,000 dry metric tonne cargo. This is equivalent to a price of around
US$2,500 per dry metric tonne on a pro rata lithia basis inclusive of freight costs.
Next up. Shares of Uniti Group declined 4 per cent in intraday trade after the telecom
services provider said that its executive director Vaughan Bowen will continue his role.
The company issued this statement in response to a media allegation against Bowen in connection
with an insider trading of shares in telecommunications company Vocus Group in June 2019. The company
said that Bowen “emphatically denied the charges. It further stated that its board
does not intend to make any changes to Bowen’s role, until the outcome of this matter has
been determined.
Next update. Shares of Hotel Property Investments nosedived nearly 6 per cent despite reporting
completion of AU$50 million Placement. The real Estate giant informed its shareholder
this morning that it completed placement of AU$50 million announced on Tuesday. The company
will issue 14.7 million new securities at an issue price of AU$3.40 per security. The
placement drew robust demand from current HPI securityholders along with the new investors.
The company will use proceeds to partially fund the proposed acquisitions of Edwardes
Lake Hotel, and a lease harmonisation program and the associated transaction costs of these.
Next. The share price of Strike Energy rose as much as 3 per cent after the oil and gas
explorer issued a business update. The company provided an update on Project Haber regarding
its proposed 1.4 million tonnes per annum urea development in Geraldton, Western Australia.
The company has collaborated with energy companies ATCO and Infinite Blue Energy for proposed
green hydrogen supply to Project Haber. Once operational, the project has the potential
to be Australia’s largest industrial hydrogen consumer and potential carbon sink.
Moving on. Shares of Western Australian iron ore producer Fenix Resources rallied 10 per
cent in intraday on robust annual earnings. The company has reported a net profit after
tax of AU$49 million for the year ended 30 June 2021. It had cash worth
AU$69 million, while cash flow from operations was AU$65.3 million. The board of the company
also declared a fully franked, final dividend of 5.25 cents per share.
And now, its time for a small break but stay tuned on kalkine tv for Asian market performance
and latest updates in the cryptocurrency space.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Hello and welcome back. Sage this side, you are watching market closing commentary on
kalkine tv.
Moving on to the next segment. Let us look at East towards the Asian market performance.
Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were trading mostly lower today, following negative cues
from Wall Street, which ended lower in the overnight trade. The investors also reacted
to weak Chinese economic data which reignites concerns about slowing global growth. Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng was the worst performer in the region market by falling nearly 1 per
cent. It was followed by the Straits Times in Singapore, which dropped 0.6 per cent.
In a similar trend, Japanese market, Nikkei 225, slipped over 0.5 per cent, while Taiwan’s Weighted
Index fell 0.3 per cent. Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite also traded lower by 0.2 per cent.
Bucking the trend, China’s Shanghai composite was trading 0.3 per cent higher despite reporting
a weak slew of macro data. While retail sales grew at the slowest pace since August 2020,
industrial production also increased at a tepid pace last month. The economic data showed
that businesses were impacted by localised lockdowns following the resurgence of COVID-19
pandemic, raising concerns about slowing economic growth. South Korea’s KOSPI extended rally
for the second day and rose 0.35 per cent, while Thailand’s SET Composite rose 0.2
per cent. India’s BSE Sensex also gained 0.4 per cent in opening deals. Meanwhile,
Wall Street ended lower in overnight trade on Tuesday on concerns over potential corporate
tax hikes. The US stock witnessed broad-based sell-off despite signs of easing inflation.
The data released by the Labor Department showed that the consumer price index rose
at slower pace of 0.1 per cent last month, triggering fresh concerns about when Federal
Reserve will start tapering its asset purchases. The Dow Jones dropped 0.85 per cent, the S&P
500 fell 0.6 per cent, and the NASDAQ tumbled 0.45 per cent.
In this last segment of this show, let’s have a quick look at the crypto market
performance.
The price of major cryptocurrencies was flashing in green on Wednesday as investors
reacted positively to the US consumer price data for August. The slower-than-expected
rise in the US inflation created uncertainty about the timing of the Federal Reserve’s
bond tapering. Barring Cardano and Solana, eight of the top ten cryptos were trading
higher. The price of Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap,
was trading up over 4 per cent. The most popular currency has gained 1.3 per cent in the last
one week following a slew of negative news. Ether, the world’s second-largest crypto,
traded higher by 3 per cent, while it dropped over 1 per cent in the last seven days. Meanwhile, Cardano,
the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was marginally down, while Dogecoin price
rose 1.5 per cent. Among others, Litecoin, XRP, Stellar, Tether, Uniswap and Binance
coin were also trading higher.
Well, that’s all for now in the last trade show. Stay safe and have a good evening. Sage
signing off.