The Australian sharemarket has been in negative territory this morning extending its decline for the second day with Technology, Consumer Staples and Materials in the black amid the wider sector decline.
The buy now pay later space are bucking the trend with tech star Afterpay
(ASX:APT) jumped 6.9 percent following its news on expanding its offering to 13 big names in the US while Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) edged 0.8 per cent higher. Though global payment provider Splitit
(ASX:SPT) are down 1.7 per cent on news that their payment solution is now available on US healthcare provider platform Green Feather.
On the banking front, Westpac
(ASX:WBC) are down 0.7 per cent after announcing that their New Zealand arm is here to stay following their initial proposal to consider spinning off their kiwi business in March. The news isn’t brighter with its peers as National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB) are trading 0.9 per cent lower. Commonwealth Bank
(ASX:CBA) lost 0.61 per cent followed by ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) down 0.55 per cent
Supermarket giant Woolworths
(ASX:WOW) tumbled 12.4 per cent as Endeavour Group
(ASX:EDV) is set to make their debut today. Cimic
(ASX:CMC) are up 0.55 per cent after winning a $4 billion contract from the Victorian government.
Flight stocks are mixed as the Sydney Covid-19 cluster grows to another five new cases to 11 in the past 24 hours. Another six cases have emerged which will be included in tomorrow’s numbers. Flight Centre
(ASX:FLT) edged up 0.02 per cent while Qantas
(ASX:QAN) fell 1.91 per cent followed by Webjet
(ASX:WEB) down 0.4 per cent.
On a rosier note, mining giants are up with its futures pointing to a 1.68 per rise as Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) added 1.5 per cent followed by Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) up 1.1 per cent and BHP
(ASX:BHP) edged 0.83 per cent higher.
At noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.25 per cent or 18.4 points lower at 7,280.
ASX futuresThe SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 20 points.
Local economic newsThe Australian Bureau of Statistics have released the June Business Conditions and Sentiments report which shows that 27 per cent of Australian businesses are having difficulty finding suitable staff.
ABS head of industry statistics John Shepherd said the latest business conditions and sentiments survey conducted from 9 to 16 June showed there were several reasons why employers were struggling to find suitable staff to fill jobs.
“The most frequently reported reason was a lack of applicants (74 per cent), followed by applicants not having the required skills (66 per cent), international border closures (32 per cent) and job location (29 per cent).”
Company newsWestpac
(ASX:WBC) clears the air after announcing to investors that they will not spin off its New Zealand business. This comes after Australia’s oldest bank announced to market that they were considering a demerger after consolidating their international operations in Asia in March.
The engineering company CIMIC
(ASX:CIM) has been awarded by Victorian Government to deliver the North East Link Primary Package in Melbourne.
Global payments provider Splitit Payments
(ASX:SPT) is now a live payment option on US based healthcare payment platform Green Feather following its initial news in the first quarter of FY2021. This gives customers the ability to use their credit card and spread their payments over time with no interest, application or fees.
Broker movesMorgans downgrades medical equipment provider Pro Medicus
(ASX:PME) to sell with a price target of $49.69. The moves followed the company’s share price which soared 35 per cent rise in the last month to new record highs. Due to the absence of news, the broker feels that this may be due to unwinding of shorted stock positions as it’s down around 3.5 per cent from over 5 per cent in January. While the broker increases its target price to $49.69 from $41.30, current prices are deemed unsustainable in the short term. The analyst suggests trimming heavily overweight positions and looking for a better entry point below $45.00. Shares in Pro Medicus
(ASX:PME) are trading 6.9 per cent higher at $56.875.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Information Technology up 2.03 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Utilities, down 0.98 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Pro Medicus
(ASX:PME) trading 6.88 per cent higher at $56.86 followed by shares in Kogan.Com
(ASX:KGN) and Redbubble
(ASX:RBL).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Woolworths Group
(ASX:WOW) trading 12.04 per cent lower at $37.39 followed by shares in Boral
(ASX:BLD) and Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST).
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1777.60 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.80 per cent higher at US$216.01 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.68 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.78 US cents.
