The Australian share market was flat at noon after opening lower as expected after Wall Street ended its session lower on Friday after US President Donald Trump said the US was not ready to strike a deal with China after “25 years of abuse”. In the US we also saw the US Government confirm it will not be buying Huawei products, sending US chipmakers lower. Back home shares in JB Hi-Fi
(ASX:JBH) have shot up this morning after they reported their NPAT is up 7.1 per cent. Ansell
(ASX:ANN) shares also saw a rise despite reporting a hit from the China Us trade war. As for our market, we are now 4.3 per cent away from the all-time high hit 30 July 2019 with the Industrials sector is doing the best and Materials doing the worst.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 2 points down at 6,583. On the futures market the SPI is eyeing a fall of 0.1 per cent.
Broker movesCiti currently rates WiseTech Global
(ASX:WTC) as a Buy with a $32.77 target price. Over the next 12 months they expect strong ongoing top-line growth of 30 per cent, 23 er cent organic, 7 per cent acquisitive.
Company newsOne of Australia's largest diversified listed property groups, GPT Group
(ASX:GPT) has reported a 52 per cent drop in its net profit after tax (NPAT) for the half-year to 30 June 2019, with the headline result hitting $352.6 million. Despite the result being hit by lower revaluations, it was better than CBA’s expectations (of a $298 million profit for the HY). In the six months it saw 2 per cent growth in funds from operations (FFO). Meantime, full year guidance was confirmed, with FFO per share growth of 2.5 per cent expected, and distribution growth of per 4.0 per cent per security. Shares in GPT Group
(ASX:GPT) are trading 2.2 per cent lower at $6.11 at noon.
Bendigo And Adelaide Bank
(ASX:BEN) announced its full year results to 30 June 2019 with a 13.3 per cent drop in attributable net profit after tax to $376.8 million. This was a miss compared to CBA’s expectations. The bank says the drop in profit comes as it was hit by remediation and redundancy costs, as well as the fall in property valuations in Melbourne and Sydney. Its final and interim dividends, fully franked, remained the same compared to 2018, 70 cents for the full year (35 cent per half year). Shares in Bendigo And Adelaide Bank
(ASX:BEN) are trading 3.1 per cent higher at $11.09 at noon.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Industrials, adding 0.7 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Materials, shedding 1.2 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is JB Hi-Fi
(ASX:JBH), rising 8.1 per cent to $30.22, followed by shares in News Corp
(ASX:NWS) and Ansell
(ASX:ANN).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Orocobre
(ASX:ORE), dropping 4.5 per cent to $2.88, followed by shares in Bravura Solutions
(ASX:BVS) and Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG).
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei is closed, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.05 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has added 0.2 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,497 an ounce.
Iron ore price stayed steady at US$94.12
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 4.9 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 67.88 US cents.
