Home / Miners, banks and tech lift ASX to third straight gain

Rally continues, WiseTech up 50%, BNPL players weaken

The ASX200 (ASX: XJO) continued its strong run despite a more mixed performance from those companies reporting today, adding 0.4%.

The technology sector was the standout, up 1.9% after WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) jumped 28.5%. The mining sector also recovered, up 1.4%, as the iron ore price showed signs of stabilising sending Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) 2.6% higher.

But it was all about WiseTech with the company trading as much as 50% higher during the session before ultimately being put into a trading halt by the ASX.

Management forecast a 25% increase in revenue in FY22, after delivering 18% in 2021.

This caught the market by surprise but particularly those shorting the company who were forced to buy into the rally an all too common occurrence in the mid cap end of the market.

Both Afterpay (ASX: APT) and Zip Co (ASX: Z1P) reported today with an increase in costs the common theme, Afterpay lost another $159 million, double expectations, as the takeover target increased share-based payments and took a loss on their financial liabilities; shares were 1.2% lower.

Zip weakens, APA’s dividend but growth in focus, Nine gains on digital, Seven breaks record

Pipeline owner APA Group (ASX: APA) delivered yield hungry investors a record dividend despite revenue stagnating at just $2.61 billion in FY21.

Profit dropped by nearly 99% to $3.8 million as the group was forced to write-down the value of their Orbost plant as oil and gas prices remain weaker than expected; shares we down 3.1%.

Nine Entertainment (ASX: NEC) which also owns the Australian Financial Review, has declared its best dividend in five years benefitting from a boom in readers and an improving digital strategy.

Revenue was 8% higher hitting $2.33 billion, with profit moving from a significant loss to an $184 million gain.

The improving subscriber numbers has coincided with a return of advertising budgets whilst the Stan streaming service continues to perform well. The result wasn’t up to expectations, however, shares falling 9.7%.

Zip’s loss widened to $652 million as the arms race in BNPL continues. Similar to Afterpay a large portion of the loss is in share-based payments for acquisitions and in lieu of wages.

Revenue more than doubled to $402 million, with total transaction volume up 180% despite the company remaining a bit player in a massive addressable market; this evidences the incredible opportunity. Shares were down 2.6%. 

Markets pause ahead of Jackson Hole, Salesforce smashes expectations, Chinese tech recovers

US markets continues to make all-time highs but with smaller and smaller gains as the number of bears on the side lines continues to fall.

Overnight it was a return of the safety in big tech theme with the Nasdaq jumping 0.2% after a strong report from Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).

The S&P 500 was up by the same amount whilst the Dow Jones continues to underperform adding 0.1%.

The central bank summit traditionally held in Jackson Hole was expected to mark the beginning of higher interest rates, but the Delta variant has clearly put a stop to that.

Shares in JD.com (HKD:9618) continue to rally, adding 5% as the Chinese tech giant that specialises in supply chains and additional services reported adding 32 million new users and boosted revenue by over 26%.

The likes of ARK Invest are now reallocating capital to China in the hunt got bargains.

Similarly, customer relationship management platform Salesforce.com delivered once again, reporting a US$535 million profit, as both revenue and earnings jumped 20%.

The company is benefitted from more groups taking their customer communications online.