Despite reaching a high of 7165 (0.2 per cent), the market succumbed to selling pressures and finished 0.3 per cent or 20 points lower, to 7129. The local Info Tech sector weighed on the index after it posted its first loss in three days. But the Financials sector managed to cap losses after it was supported by a rally in the big-four banks. Of the 11 sectors, only 2 finished higher.
The best performers today were Allkem (AKE) and Perseus Mining (PRU), which rose by 3.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively. Tabcorp (TAH) was the worst performer today after its shares lost 80.2 per cent.
In company news, shares of TechnologyOne (TNE) were down as much as 4.9 per cent in early trade, but finished the day 1.6 per cent lower. This comes after TNE released its interim report, outlining a 19 per cent increase in its revenues and an 18 per cent jump in its profits. TNE expects its FY22 software annual recurring revenue to grow by “more than 40 per cent”, and its net profit before tax to increase by around 10 to 15 per cent.
Qantas (QAN) today announced its purchase of a 51 per cent stake in online travel business, TripADeal. TripADeal had preCovid bookings in excess of $200 million, and QAN says that earnings from its majority stake in TripADeal will be accretive to its underlying EBIT target of $500-$600 million by FY24.
The Lottery Corporation (TLC) has made its debut on the ASX today following its demerger from Tabcorp (TAH). This follows TAH’s intention to demerge its Lotteries and Keno business as a separate ASX-listed company, and retain its wager, media and gaming services businesses. Shares of TAH finished 80.2 per cent lower while shares of TLC finished flat.
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Shares in electronic parts catalogue (EPC) provider Infomedia (IFM) have shed 3.9 per cent after it announced that the distributors of Hyundai Greece and Hyundai Germany flagged thetermination of their contract with the company. IFM says that it expects the impact of the termination to reduce its revenues by $165,000 in FY22, and by $900,000 in FY23.
Shares in payment technology company Pushpay (PPH) have resumed trading after it received takeover interests from multiple parties. PPH says that these acquisition proposals are in addition to the expressions of interest it received in April.
4.3bn shares were traded, worth $8.3bn. 503 stocks finished higher, 927 ended lower, while 392 closed unchanged.
In the US, the S&P Global PMI is released together with new home sales and the Richmond Federal Reserve index. The Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell speaks.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author) CommSec
