ASX claws back, Breville boils up: Aus shares close flat

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

The Australian share market fell at the open on the back of negative leads from Wall Street with the likes of Macy’s falling on disappointing sales. 

As for the ASX today, the market absorbed a suite of disappointing results throughout the session but pared back those losses and closed flat. We saw the likes of with Invocare (ASX:IVC), Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) falling after the reported.

Already this reporting season 18 sets of results have come in below expectations, 17 companies have been in line estimates and just 13 have beat analysts expectations.

Just three sectors fell today and Materials led the decline on the back of MinRes falling. Not helping the cause, the iron ore price fell 1.2 per cent to US$67.21 and its futures are pointing to a fall of 2.2 per cent.

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1 points lower, or 0.01 per cent lower to finish at 6,328.

Futures

Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 118 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a rise of 10 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a gain of 35 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 9 point fall tomorrow/Monday morning

Value of trades

$7.3 billion on volume of 821 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP), CSL (ASX:CSL) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA).

Economic news

Low average wage growth has continued with wages rising by 1 per cent over the last six months and 2.7 per cent over the last year.

Meantime, we also learned that Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 5.3 per cent in July (according to the ABS), beating forecasts with some economists predicting the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate would rise to 5.5 per cent.

Company news

Aussie manufacturer of small home appliances Breville Group (ASX:BRG) saw a stellar rally today taking the chart off the 'richter scale', after it reported its net profit after tax rose and EPS both rose about 9 per cent, with its sales jumping 7 per cent in the 2018 financial year compared to the same time last year. The company also hired Peter Cowan to its board, after he has been a CEO and chairman of Unilever and also worked in other prestigious roles. Shares in Breville Group (ASX:BRG) gained 12.5 per cent today, closing at $13.10.

Telstra (ASX:TLS) annouced its results for the financial year 2018 and largely beat global investment bank UBS’ estimates with NPAT, EBITDA and income beating the banks’ forecasts. The Telco also declared a fully franked dividend of 11 cents per share.

Funeral company InvoCare’s (ASX:IVC) net profit after tax attributable to equity holders fell 50 per cent to $20.8 million in the half year ending June 30 2018. The company also inked a deal to buy all the shares in William Morrison Funerals in New Zealand which generates NZ$5.2 million per year.

Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) today reported its net profit grew over 11 per cent for the year to 30 June 2018 of $476 million and revenue growth of 8.2 per cent to $5.5 billion.

Intellectual Property firm, IPH (ASX:IPH) announced its revenue clocked up 21 on the back of a strong second half of the year in Asia. It also declared a final dividend of 11 cents per share, a rise of 5 per cent on FY17.

Aerial imagery company Nearmap (ASX:NEA) has formally expanded into New Zealand.

IPOs

Sultan Resources (ASX:SLZ) started trading today. The mineral exploration company provider floated with an issue price of 20 cents opened at 19.5 cents and its trading at 19 cents.

Best and worst performers of the day

The best performing sector was Healthcare adding 0.7 per cent while the worst performing sector was Materials, shedding 1.7 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Breville Group (ASX:BRG) rising 12.5 per cent today, closing at $13.10. Shares in Domino's Pizza Enterprises Limited (ASX:DMP) and QBE (ASX:QBE) followed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Invocare Limited (ASX:IVC), dropping 8.8 per cent to close at $13.14. Shares in Iluka Resources Limited (ASX:ILU) and Mineral Resources Limited (ASX:MIN) followed lower.

Asian markets

Mixed:Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.04 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.1 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,176 an ounce.
Light crude is $1.99 lower at $US64.34 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.69 US cents.

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin has lost 0.7 per cent to US$6,305, Ethereum gained about 0.2 per cent to US$285 and EOS has fallen about 0.5 per cent to US$4.65.
 

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