This year’s top 10 stories included a peek into AustralianSuper’s international equities build out in London, AMP’s move to slash employee benefits, and plenty of hard-hitting analysis of the issues that matter in institutional investment. But the real story is how readers helped shape all of that coverage.
Orbis’ Stuart Place is riding from Melbourne to the Moon and Back to fund a treatment for the “monster of a disease” that his youngest son was born with. The investment industry is rallying behind him.
Market rallies despite rate hike discussion, City Chic tanks, AMP nearing sale
The shortened week has begun positively with the S&P/ASX200 gaining 0.6 per cent despite lower-than-normal volumes.
The release of the RBA’s policy meeting minutes dominated the conversation with commentary around the proximity of rate hikes now suggesting they will come sooner rather than later.
The result was the perceived ‘inflation hedges’ within the market outperforming, with the energy, materials and financial sectors all gaining around 1 per cent.
QBE Insurance (ASX: QBE) and Computershare (ASX: CPU) which benefited from higher rates on the cash and investments they control both rallied 2.9 per cent.
The technology and healthcare sector continued to underperform, falling 0.7 and 0.6 per cent with investors not willing to value profits well into the future as highly.
Shares in AMP (ASX: AMP) barely budged despite management confirming the group was in talks with Dexus (ASX: DXS) and ‘multiple’ other parties regarding the impending sale of their Collimate Capital and global infrastructure investment businesses, previously known as AMP Capital.
Representing over $31 billion, shareholders will be keen to ensure they are receiving full value in any sale.
Online retailer City Chic (ASX: CCX) was the biggest detractor, falling 4 per cent on little to no news.
New platform flows continue, Syrah wins US backing, Incitec shutdown costs
It was another positive quarter for the financial services platform sector with both Hub 24 (ASX: HUB) and Praemium (ASX: PPS) reporting strongly flows in March.
Hub 24 reported another $2.6 billion in the March quarter, a 39 per cent increase, and Praemium $725 million, an 82 per cent improvement on 2021 levels.
The result was funding under administration reaching $68.3 billion and $47.7 billion respectively, partly justifying the solid multiples.
Over $1 billion per month is heading into Hub 24 accounts despite reports this week that some 100,000 Australians were no longer receiving financial advice for one reason or another.
Praemium was the standout, gaining 14.5 per cent, with Hub 24 gaining 1.6 per cent.
Shares in graphite miner Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) are showing signs of a renewed rally, gaining 14 per cent after the US Government confirmed it will lend US$107 million to the company in order to secure battery-grade graphite for locally domiciled companies.
At the other end of the spectrum was Incitec Pivot (ASX: IPL) which gained 3.5 per cent despite finally quantifying the cost of their US ammonia plant to US$128 million due to downtime and lost production.
Market rallies on oil price fall, transport surges, Netflix tanks
US markets continued a strong start to the post-Easter week with quarterly earnings season dominating investment flows.
Another 5 per cent fall in oil price, which remains above $US100 per barrel was enough to trigger a 1.5 per cent jump in the Dow Jones, 1.6 in the S&P500 and 2.2 per cent in the Nasdaq.
Yet the standout by far came from the Transport sector, which added close to 3 per cent as a combination of airlines, car hire and other related companies surged on signs that demand for travel is higher than ever.
Housing starts also improved, up 0.3 per cent, despite concerns about higher construction and material costs.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) shares gained more than 3 per cent, overcoming a 15 per cent fall in profit and 11 per cent fall in revenue, with pharmaceutical and vaccine sales the highlight.
Twitter’s (NYSE: TWTR) have effectively forced Musk to convince them of the value of his deal, falling 4.7 per cent after Apollo Global flagged the potential to lend to any potential buyer of the company.
This would be a rare ‘take private’ for a technology company.
Netflix (NYSE: NFLX) shares were down heavily in after-hours trading, falling close to 20 per cent after the company reported they had lost 200,000 subscribers for the first time.
This came after price increases in the US and Canada and caps off a very difficult period.
