Aussie shares extended on their gains from yesterday as expected, rising 0.7 per cent at noon. It comes as Wall Street continued to bounce back from its August sell-off as the US Government extended the ability for US companies to do business with Huawei for 90 days. On top of that, bonds around the globe are starting to claw back, quashing recession fears. All this is boding well for US equities, which are recovering from the worst session of 2019, last week.
And for us, now the benchmark ASX200 is about is just over 5 per cent away from the all time high hit late July. And if we looked at the chart, the bourse is attempting to recoup the loss of 2.9 per cent made on the 15 August (when we saw the US bond yield curve invert). The S&P/ASX 200 index is 0.7 per cent or 44 points up at 6,512 points. On the futures market the SPI is 0.5 per cent or 35 points.
Company newsBuy now pay later company Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) is cementing its platform in global markets after inking a deal to snap up PartPay Limited (‘PartPay’), gaining access to New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and South Africa. Its takeover of PartPay, for NZ$50.8 million, will involve a further NZ$15.0 million in earnout (based milestones in FY20 and FY21). The total PartPay takeover is capped at a NZ$65.8 million take-over amount. At the same time, it bumped up its stake in NY based, buy now company, pay later (‘BNPL’) provider, QuadPay to 15 per cent, after investing US$11.4 million in the American firm. Zip says these deals are the beginning of its global expansion story, ‘whilst we see significant upside in the core Australian business, we feel the timing is opportune to begin investing abroad’. Shares in Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) are trading 8 per cent higher at $3.25 at noon. YTD Z1P shares are up 195 per cent.
Lifestyle and holiday communities creator, Ingenia Communities Group
(ASX:INA) delivered full year results (for the year to 30 June 2019) exceeding its guidance levels with record earnings (EBIT) of $61.5 million (that’s a rise of 26 per cent on the same time last year). Underlying profit rose 28 per cent to $47.2 million, while its statutory profit slipped 14 per cent to $29.3 million accounting for write offs costs of $72.6 million in acquisitions, combined with an adjustment as development profits were realised. Its new home settlements hit a record of 336, a rise of 17 per cent, with settlements to add $2.7 million in annual rental income. Its EPS rose 19 per cent (underlying) and as for FY20, Ingenia expects EPS growth of 5-10 per cent and EBIT growth of 10-15 per cent. Shares in Ingenia Communities Group
(ASX:INA) are trading 1.5 per cent higher at $3.51 at noon. YTD INA shares are up 17 per cent.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is S&P/ASX Energy, adding 1.6 per cent, while the worst performing sector is S&P/ASX Materials, shedding 0.3 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is IPH
(ASX:IPH), rising 6.8 per cent to $9.14, followed by shares in Beach Energy Limited
(ASX:BPT) and Bluescope Steel Limited
(ASX:BSL).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited
(ASX:SAR),dropping 5.9 per cent to $3.49, followed by shares in Monadelphous Group Limited
(ASX:MND) and GWA Group
(ASX:GWA).
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has shed 0.1 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 fell 1.3 per cent to US$88.40
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 1.2 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 67.69 US cents.
