The Aussie market had a choppy trading session and finished on a flat note, with the ASX 200 edging 2.6pts or 0.04 per cent higher, to 6818.3. Oil producers Woodside Petroleum (WDS) and Santos (STO) improved by at least 1.8 per cent, helping the broader Energy sector lift for the eighth straight day – its longest win streak since March this year. Miners also rose by a modest 0.5 per cent, but a decline in the Big 4 banks weighed on the broader market. At
the close, 5 sectors and roughly 43 per cent of stocks in the ASX 200 finished in positive territory.
On the company announcement front, Lake Resources (LKE) rose by 2 per cent after announcing an agreement with The Netherlands-based, WMC Energy. Under the agreement, WMC will ‘offtake up to 25,000 mpta of battery grade lithium’ from LKE’s Kachi Project, and will also purchase a 10 per cent stake in LKE for $1.20 per share (20 per cent premium to previous close). The initial offtake term lasts 10 years but can be extended.
Appen (APX) fell by 11.7 per cent and posted its biggest decline in around two months after releasing a trading update. The artificial intelligence company says that ‘there has been no improvement in trading conditions in August & September’, despite advising investors earlier that its revenue will be skewed towards the second half. It now expects its revenue to be between US$375-$395 million, and its EBITDA (US$13-18 million) & EBITDA margins to
be ‘materially lower than FY21’. APX says that recent trading data reinforces this forecast.
Funds management company Magellan (MFG) released its monthly funds-under-management (FUM) update for September. It noted an 11.6 per cent slip in its total FUM to $50.9 billion, driven by both a 14.1 per cent decline in its Institutional FUM, and a 7.5 per cent fall in its Retail FUM. MFG’s total FUM has nearly halved since the start of this year, driven partly by market volatility. MFG was the worst performer today after slumping 8.4 per cent.
The Star Entertainment Group (SGR) has announced that the final report in connection with the review into its Queensland operations has been made public. The Attorney General has ‘considered the findings’ from the report as well as the ‘findings in the Bell Review in NSW’, and has ‘formed the view that SGR is unsuitable to hold a casino license in Queensland’. SGR shares finished flat despite rising concerns.
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In economic news, a trade surplus of $8.3 billion was recorded in August, down from the June record high of $17.5 billion. Australia imported $10.6 billion of goods from China in August – the most imported from any country in a single month.
Today, 3.5bn shares were traded, worth $6.9bn. 719 stocks rose, 613 fell & 387 finished unchanged.
In the US, the Challenger job cuts series is issued with the weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec
