The local sharemarket has finished Tuesday's session in the red. The ASX 200 closed 0.7 per cent or 45 points lower at 6185.BHP, CSL and CBA offset gains in Afterpay. The buy now pay later company bounced 4.5 per cent after striking a banking deal with Westpac. Tech stocks rose for a third straight session. Meantime, ratings agency S&P has affirmed Australia’s AAA ratings, with a negative outlook flagging economic and fiscal risks.
FuturesUS futures are all higher the Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 64 points. S&P 500 futures are eyeing a gain of 11 points. The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a rise of 61 points. And the SPI futures are eyeing a fall of 37 points tomorrow morning.
Broker newsCiti Bank has maintained its sell ratings on infant formula maker a2 Milk and goat-milk-based infant formula manufacturer Bubs. The broker says negative read throughs from Danone's September quarter suggest indirect China sales are still weak on international border restrictions and reduced tourism. Shares in a2 Milk
(ASX:A2M) closed 0.6 per cent higher at $14.70.
Company newsBuy now, pay later player Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) has been granted a principal issuer licence with Visa. The launch of the new Tap & Zip product will allow Zip customers to shop anywhere that accepts Visa Shares in Zip
(ASX:Z1P) closed 1.4 per cent lower at $7.07.
Fellow buy-now pay later player Afterpay’s
(ASX:APT) shares pushed past $100 today on news the company has partnered with Westpac on its new digital banking platform, which will allow Afterpay customers to use their new savings account to conduct the majority of their money management activities.
Meantime, gambling group Tabcorp’s
(ASX:TAH) first quarter revenue fell 5.7 per cent (unaudited) compared to the same period last year. Revenues in the lotteries and keno business were down 6.9 per cent on the prior period, while wagering and media revenues were up 2.9 per cent despite the decline in retail and reduced net yields.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is tech closing 1.7 per cent higher and was the only sector to finish in the green, financials lagged behind losing 1.2 per cent. The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Mesoblast
(ASX:MSB) rising 5.3 per cent to $3.40, followed by shares Afterpay
(ASX:APT) and EML Payments
(ASX:EML) The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is IDP Education
(ASX:IEL) dropping 7.2 per cent to $18.57, followed by shares in Perseus Mining
(ASX:PRU) and Monadelphous Group
(ASX:MND).
Asian marketsLower: Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.6 per cent Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 0.2 and the Shanghai Composite has fallen 0.1 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1,903 an ounce.
Iron ore price is 0.4 per cent lower to US$119.53.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.1 per cent.
Light crude has shed US$0.29 to US$40.77 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 70.43 US cents.
