The Aussie sharemarket rose for the first time this week, with the ASX 200 climbing by 0.5 per cent or 36 points to 6998.1. The Energy sector improved the most after rallying 2.8 per cent and was
supported by the price of oil rising for the first time in three days. Mining stocks added 1 per cent and the Tech & Financial sectors snapped four-straight days of losses and rose by 2.2 and 0.4 per
cent, respectively. The Big 4 banks rose for the first time this week.

Coles Group (COL) fell by 4.6 per cent and posted its fourth straight decline, after releasing its annual results. Whilst the retailer increased its profits and raised its final dividend to 30 cents-pershare, its earnings margins fell. Revenue improvements from its Supermarket and Liquor segments were nearly offset by a 5 per cent slip in revenues from its Express division. COL says that the recovery in its Express division ‘slowed throughout the second half’, due partly to flood events.

Dominos Pizzas Enterprises (DMP) shares snapped five straight days of losses after climbing 7.6 per cent. In its annual results, it posted a 4.6 per cent increase in its network sales, but a 12.5 per
cent fall in its profits. DMP also announced the acquisition of its franchise businesses in Malaysian, Singapore and Cambodia for A$214 million. DMP declared a final dividend of 68.1 cents-pershare.

WiseTech Global (WTC), the second largest tech company on the market, rose 12.8 per cent today, after releasing its FY22 results. The logistics-software company lifted its revenues by 25 per cent
to $632 million (‘top end of guidance’), its EBITDA by 54 per cent, and its profits by 72 per cent. It also raised its final dividend by 66 per cent to 6.4 cents-per-share.

EML Payments (EML) entered a trading halt this morning, but resumed trade and finished the session 10.6 per cent lower. This comes after the company advised that its Sentenial business has
‘identified recent fraudulent activity relating to an identified set of fraudulent merchants within its direct debit processing business’. The payment solution provider is however ‘confident that the
maximum amount of any losses will not exceed A$7.9m’, which represents 24.6 per cent of the underlying profits it released 2 days ago in its annual results.

 

Top Australian Brokers

 

4.3bn shares were traded, worth $7.8bn. 779 stocks rose, 598 fell & 408 finished unchanged.

In the US tonight, data on durable goods orders and pending home sales are released.

Reporting season continues tomorrow, with Woolworths (WOW), Allkem (AKE) & Whitehaven Coal (WHC) amongst some of the companies scheduled to release their results tomorrow

Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec