AU Morning Wrap: ASX Rises; AMA Plunges 32% on Earnings Downgrade

Big banks were among the few bright spots in stock markets Friday after posting stronger-than-expected earnings, though executives warned that recent stress in the financial sector is darkening their outlook for the U.S. economy.

Major indexes fell after a Federal Reserve official said that inflation remained stubbornly high and that the central bank needs to continue raising interest rates to slow the pace of lending. Data released this week showed that inflation eased in March but that underlying price pressures persisted.

Transurban rose 0.5 per cent to $14.81 after reporting that average daily traffic increased by 12.9 per cent in the March quarter compared to a year earlier, a record third quarter result for the business.

AMA Group plunged 32 per cent after downgrading its earnings guidance due to worse-than-expected margin compression.

Regis Resourced fell 9.1 per cent to $2.20 after updating its guidance due to lower lower than expected gold output in the March quarter.

The company reported gold production of 103,728 ounces for the period, driven by a slower than planned ramp up of the new Duketon Garden Well South underground, unplanned maintenance events at the Rosemont process plant and lower underground performance at Tropicana.

Traffic was particularly strong in Sydney and Brisbane, with positive underlying performance, as well as contribution from new assets and enhancements that have come online over the past few years, the company said.

Melbourne traffic continued to improve.

The company now expects FY23 EBITDA (post-AASB 16) to be in the range of $60 to $68 million, compared to previous guidance of $70 million to $90 million.

The group expects to be operating cash flow positive for the second half of 2023 excluding principal elements of leases.

The extension enables Barminco to continue underground development works and is expected to deliver around $90 million of revenue over the 12 months.

Perenti said it does not forecast that the award of the contract will impact its current FY23 guidance range.

Essential said it is not currently aware of MinRes' intentions in acquiring a shareholding in the company through its recent on-market share purchases.