AU Morning Wrap: ASX Slips at Open; F&P Healthcare, Latitude Shares Drop

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · May 26, 2023 08:38

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• Chip maker Nvidia powers Nasdaq higher
• ASX slips; Latitude profit warning
• Stocks to watch: Lake Resources, CSR, Latitude
- Moomoo News AU

AU Morning Wrap: ASX Slips at Open; F&P Healthcare, Latitude Shares Drop

Wall Street Summary

Nvidia's breakout first-quarter results lifted tech stocks despite surging bond yields.

The chip maker's strong outlook came from the booming demand for artificial intelligence, and boosted the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ to a 1.7% gain with its own 24% rise.

While shares of information-technology firms shot 4.5% higher—the sector's biggest one-day pop since November—none of the 10 remaining sectors in the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ gained more than a half percentage point. The benchmark index still managed to rise 0.9%, though the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ slipped 35 points, or 0.1%. Thursday marked the Dow's fifth consecutive session of losses.

AU Market Watch

Australia's sharemarket opened lower, shrugging off a rally in US tech shares, as US debt ceiling talks continue to weigh on sentiment.

The benchmark $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ fell 2.06 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 7,136.1 at the open, on track for a fifth day of losses. That would be the longest losing streak since April.

Declines in health care, energy and the real estate sectors were offset by gains in financials and material stocks.

$CSR Ltd (CSR.AU)$ was the worst performer, falling 4.7 per cent, followed by Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which fell 3.2 per cent. The latter forecast operating revenue for 2024 of about $NZ1.7 billion.

Nickel Industries, $Lake Resources NL (LKE.AU)$ and $Liontown Resources Ltd (LTR.AU)$ were among advancing shares on the ASX, all rallying more than 2 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trade.

Latitude Group tumbled 7.3 per cent to $1.20 after issuing a profit warning on the aftermath of the cyberattack on the company in March. It also scrapped its interim dividend.

Stocks to Watch

$Latitude Group Holdings Ltd (LFS.AU)$: Latitude Group has cut its profit guidance for the half year and full year and has scrapped its interim dividend after lost income and higher credit losses in the aftermath of a cyberattack on the company in March.

The company said an anticipated increase in credit provisions to 4.20 per cent would result in a cash net profit after tax (NPAT) in the range of $5 million to $10 million for the half year.

$Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (FPH.AU)$: Revenue for the homecare product group Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 6 per cent to $NZ1.6 billion ($1.5 billion) in financial 2023, from a year ago, taking net profit 34 per cent lower to $NZ250 million.

Guidance assumptions for the 2024 financial year is full year operating revenue of $NZ1.7 billion, evenly split between hospital and homecare product groups.

$Mesoblast Ltd (MSB.AU)$: Biotech company Mesoblast trimmed losses after tax to $US18.6 million in the March quarter, from $US21.3 million a year ago.

Revenue from royalties on sales of Temcell sold in Japan grew 4 per cent in the period to $US2 million for the quarter.

Cancer care business GenesisCare's original lenders have sold about $US400 million ($600 million) of their holdings in the secondary markets, for as little as 15¢ in the dollar, as its advisers push for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Trading Ex-div: $CSR Ltd (CSR.AU)$, $Whitefield Industrials Ltd (WHF.AU)$, $Ellerston Asian Investment Ltd (EAI.AU)$

Dividends Paid: $OM Holdings Ltd (OMH.AU)$, $HomeCo Daily Needs REIT (HDN.AU)$

Listing: None

Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR

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