AU Morning Wrap: ASX Opens Higher, Tech Leads Gains After Nvidia Result

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · Aug 24, 2023 08:34

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• S&P 500 has best day since June
• ASX opens higher, tech leads gains after Nvidia result
• Stocks to watch: Qantas, Ramsay Healthcare, TPG Telecom
- Moomoo News AU

AU Morning Wrap: ASX Opens Higher, Tech Leads Gains After Nvidia Result

Wall Street Summary

Technology and real-estate shares lifted the S&P 500 to its best daily performance since June despite surveys of purchasing managers that flashed warnings of economic slowdown on both sides of the Atlantic.

The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ rose 1.1%. Energy shares were the only segment of the broader index that ended the day down, drifting lower along with prices for oil and gas futures.

The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ added 0.5% or about 184 points. The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$, which is loaded with tech stocks, gained 1.6% and is now up 31% this year thanks to investor excitement over artificial intelligence and chip makers powering the latest computing boom.

AU Market Watch

The Australian sharemarket has opened higher, following a strong lead from Wall Street which was buoyed overnight on and positive US economic data.

The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ was up 29.1 points, 0.4 per cent, in early trade to 7177.5. The All Ordinaries was also up 0.4 per cent.

Tech sector was leading the rise, up 1.1 per cent, following a strong US earnings result from Nasdaq heavy-weight Nvidia.

Shares in $Lovisa Holdings Ltd (LOV.AU)$ were among the worst performing. The budget jewellery retailer, which is backed by billionaire retailer Brett Blundy, has posted a 30 per cent rise in sales in its latest full-year report to $596.4 million. Net profit was up 16.7 per cent to $68.2 million.

Shares in $Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AU)$ have lifted 2.9 per cent. The airline group has delivered a record profit and says it will return another $500 million to shareholders.

Financial advice and funds management group $Insignia Financial Ltd (IFL.AU)$ was down 11.5 per cent after posting a full-year underlying net profit down 15 per cent to $191 million.

$Ramsay Health Care Ltd (RHC.AU)$ is down 6.5 per cent following its full-year report. Dividends came in 48 per cent lower than last year.

$Medibank Pvt Ltd (MPL.AU)$ has risen 3.5 per cent. The company recorded a 30 per cent lift in full-year after-tax profits to $511.1 million.

In its latest half-year report $TPG Telecom Ltd (TPG.AU)$ said it plans to get rid of brands and products to cut costs, after its interim profit slid 71 per cent to $48 million. Shares are up 3.7 per cent.

Stocks to Watch

$TPG Telecom Ltd (TPG.AU)$: TPG Telecom says it plans to get rid of brands and products to cut costs, after its interim profit slid 71 per cent to $48 million.

The telecommunications group, which manages brands such as Vodafone, iiNet, AAPT, Internode, Lebara and felix, said it would "simplify its brand portfolio, rationalise products and customer journeys, increase digitisation and streamline internal systems and platforms" to boost profit margins.

The program is expected to generate $140 million of "net cash benefits" by fiscal 2027 compared with fiscal 2023, but will cost the company $15 million to $20 million a year in the 2024 and 2025 financial years.

$South32 Ltd (S32.AU)$: Mining giant South32 has slumped to a $US173 million ($267 million) loss after tax following a big write-down on the value of its Hermosa base metals project in the United States.

South32's underlying earnings plunged 65 per cent to $US916 million, down from $US2.6 billion last year.

The full-year loss came after South32 announced in July that it had slashed $US1.3 billion from the value of its flagship zinc-lead-silver Taylor deposit within the Hermosa project in Arizona's Patagonia Mountains.

$Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (TAH.AU)$: Tabcorp has announced a $66.5 million net profit after tax for its first year following the demerger of its lotteries and Keno business, as a growing wagering business offsets softer market conditions.

The company, which operates media and gaming services, increased statutory revenue by 2.6 per cent to $2.4 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbed 88 per cent to $407.4 million.

$Core Lithium Ltd (CXO.AU)$: Core Lithium, among the most shorted stocks on the ASX, said it had delivered a 10,000 tonne parcel of spodumene concentrate to Darwin port which was now ready for shipping to foundation customer, Ganfeng Lithium.

The delivery follows the two concentrate shipments made in April and July under separate agreements with Sichuan Yahua. In addition, the company said it had “successfully completed” negotiations for the sale of an initial parcel of lithium fines from its Finniss operations in the Northern Territory.