Archives: Reports
The ASX opened weaker but staged a sharp 77-point rally through midday, before easing back in the afternoon as US futures turned lower. Heavy selling in James Hardie and ongoing pressure on CSL weighed on materials and healthcare though strength in the Big Four banks, all up 1-4% more than offset weakness.
The ASX200 fell 0.7% on Tuesday, with healthcare behemoth CSL inflicting all of the damage to the index; more stocks finished the session up on the day! However, when the market’s third-largest company by market capitalisation at the start of the day tumbled almost 17% to end the day as the fifth-largest, it inevitably had a meaningful impact on the underlying index. To paint a clear picture, the ASX200 closed down 63 points, with CSL contributing 65 points on the negative side of the ledger – more on CSL later.
Rocks and diamonds for the ASX today on the reporting front, with some very strong updates from the majority of companies, then came CSL, finishing down 16.9% and taking 65 points off the market i.e. excluding CSL from the equation, the market would have finished flat.
The ASX200 closed up +0.2% on Monday, cautiously nudging closer to the psychological 9000 level. With over 80% of the ASX200 still to report, there’s likely to be plenty of action on the stock level over the coming weeks.
The ASX whipsawed between positive and negative territory today with another strong move from the banks providing some stability, pushing the index higher into the close. Results continue to stream in and were mixed today, though only 16% of the top 200 companies have reported – so still plenty more to come.
We are now seven weeks into FY26, and global markets are trading at or near all-time highs. The ASX 200, including dividends, is up 4.7%, supported by a 13.7% rally in Resources and gains of more than 8% from Healthcare, Utilities, and Energy.
A strong end to the week saw the ASX200 advance 1.5%, breaking to new all-time highs above 8,900. It was only a little over four months ago that the ASX was trading below 7,200, clouded by an aggressive tariff regime implemented by the president of the world’s largest economy. While the tariff situation remains a work in progress, with a deal yet to be signed between China and the US, it has quickly faded from headlines. Deals with other countries suggest the same will happen between the two superpowers, and our view at the time—that huge tariffs simply didn’t work as policy and therefore had to be a strategy—appears to be playing out.
Another strong session to end a positive week for stocks, with the ASX defying a flat session overseas to chalk up a new all-time closing high, above 8900 for the first time.
Two of the most widely held stocks in Australia, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Telstra (TLS), both confirmed this week that crowded/momentum trades can be problematic. Meeting earnings expectations when the market is positioned for an upside surprise is simply not good enough.
The ASX hit new intra day highs today, driven by strong gains in Financials and Utilities after upbeat earnings results from Westpac and Origin. Bank stocks followed the WBC result up with CBA the weakest link for a second straight session. Employment data this morning eased concerns of a weakening job market and took some fuel off the fire for a rate cut at next month’s RBA meeting.
