The Australian sharemarket is continuing its chirpy performance pushing 0.2 per cent higher at 7,408 at lunchtime after Wall St notched new record highs. The Federal Reserve unveiled its formal taper of its asset purchases program as falling oil prices pushed energy stocks lower ahead of the OPEC+ meeting. The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 13 points.
On the local bourse, the gains are almost across the board with energy stocks as the biggest drag, down over 1.8 per cent followed by marginal losses in utilities and consumer discretionary. Technology stocks are leading the pack, bouncing back from yesterday.
Some of the biggest laggards are Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) trading 3.2 per cent lower, Woodside
(ASX:WPL), Worley
(ASX:WOR) and Santos
(ASX:STO) are neck to neck trading 2.9 per cent lower each.
Building materials company CSR
(ASX:CST) is surging 4.2 per cent at $6.25 on news that its after-tax profits jumped 30 per cent in the half year at September.
Joining the ranks of the stronger performers is Adbri
(ASX:ABC) up 2.5 per cent at $3.12 after inking a deal to buy Zanows’ Concrete & Quarries for $58 million.
Meanwhile, shares in Domino’s Pizza
(ASX:DMP) have clawed back its losses from its crash of 18 per cent this morning. At time of writing, the company has tumbled 11.8 per cent at $125.56 flagging shareholders that higher costs partly due to inflation, and labour shortages are set to weigh on its outlook at its AGM. Meanwhile, profits grew by a fifth in the three months to the end of September.
Shares in Cimic
(ASX:CIM) are down 0.3 per cent at $19.48 after they were awarded a long-term maintenance contract with Chevron Australia. The deal is set to deliver an estimated $40 million per year for up to 10 years.
Elsewhere, Suncorp
(ASX:SUN) is trading 0.9 per cent lower at $11.25 as they forecast costs of $225 million to $250 million after the recent hail and wind event hit South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania last week. The insurer has received more than 12,000 home and motor claims.
In the technology space, shareholders of US payments giant, Square have approved the issuance of stock for Afterpay
(ASX:APT) shareholders. The move follows the $39 billion deal in August this year. Shares are trading 2.1 per cent higher at $124.08.
On the AGM front, NIB Holdings
(ASX:NHF) is surging 4.6 per cent at $7.06 on a strong quarterly update.
Local economic newsExports fell 6.0 per cent to $44.9 billion driven by falls in iron ore prices while imports declined 2.0 to $32.7 billion driven by continued global supply chain constraints as per the Australian Bureau of Statistics. A fall of 5.0 per cent and 0.5 per cent was expected respectively.
Australian retail sales volumes fell a record 4.4 per cent in the September quarter seasonally adjusted, according to the Bureau of Statistics following a 0.7 per cent rise in the June quarter. This weakness was somewhat in line with expectations of 4.5 per cent and 5.0 per cent.
Broker movesMorgans rates Tyro Payments
(ASX:TYR) as an add with a price target to $4.25. The company reported year-to-date gross profit in October of around $38 million with the broker concerned about its full-year guidance of $159 million. The broker believes that the guidance is ambitious despite an ability to ramp up activity once restrictions ease. Financial year 2022 and financial year 2023 earnings per share have been downgraded by 10 per cent. It was also observed that there is a gap between transaction growth being up 25 per cent and gross profit growth up 14 per cent which drove a heavy stock fall. This was due to Bendigo Bank Alliance revenue share reducing gross profit. The rating is retained and the target price decreases to $4.25 from $4.46. Shares in Tyro Payments
(ASX:TYR) are trading 2.6 per cent lower at $3.36.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Information Technology, up 0.9 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Energy, down 2.1 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is NIB Holdings
(ASX:NHF), trading 4.4 per cent higher at $7.05. It is followed by shares in CSR
(ASX:CSR) and Nufarm
(ASX:NUF).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Domino Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP), trading 11.8 per cent lower at $125.53. It is followed by shares in Champion Iron
(ASX:CIA) and Tyro Payments
(ASX:TYR).
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1776.14 an ounce.
Iron ore is 3.4 per cent higher at US$99.70 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 2.4 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 74.60 US cents.
