ASX200 finishes in the green on big businesses earning upgrades
Market heavyweights Coles, Qantas and Medibank soared on the back of a better than expected reporting season, helping the local sharemarket on Thursday.
Australia’s sharemarket snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday after market heavyweights Coles, Qantas and Medibank announced investor friendly results.
The S&P/ASX200 closed up Thursday, gaining 27.50 points or 0.33 per cent to 8,268.20. The broader All Ordinaries finished up 28.80 points or 0.34 per cent to 8506.10.
The Australian dollar fell on Thursday, now buying 62.92 US cents.
Eight of 11 sectors finished in the green, led by consumer staples which rose by more than 1.5 per cent on Thursday. It was also a good day for materials, industrials, energy and telecommunications which all helped lift the index.
Coles was one of the major winners of reporting season, jumping 3.5 per cent for the day to close Thursday trading at $20.38.
According to eToro market Farhan Badami, underlying profits increased by 6.4 per cent to $666m allowing shareholders to get a 37 cent per share.
“Coles took advantage of Woolworths’ supply chain problems by adding an extra $A120m in sales and $A20m in earnings,” he said.
“Looking forward, Coles continues to show positive momentum in the third quarter with supermarket sales up 3.4 per cent and liquor sales growing 3.8 per cent.
“CEO Leah Weckert remains focused on delivering value to customers and improving fresh product offerings.”
It was also a good day for Qantas shareholders, with the major airline jumping 5.62 per cent to $9.39 on the back of paying its first dividend in six years.
The company announced its bottom line recorded an 11 per cent in half yearly profits before tax to $1.39bn.
The company said it will pay a fully franked 16.5 cent interim dividend and a special 9.9 cent fully franked special dividend. Both will be paid on April 16.
While still finishing in the green, the financials sector underperformed the overall market as the big four banks have mixed days.
Commonwealth Bank rose marginally on the bell, up 0.019 per cent to $156.29, while ANZ is up 0.47 per cent to $29.89 and Westpac is up 0.35 per cent to $31.62. NAB was the only major bank to end in the red down 0.23 per cent to $35.45.
Topping today’s earnings news, AP Eagers jumped nearly 20 per cent to $14.93 after reporting revenue of $11.2 billion, an increase of 13.6 per cent from the previous period.
Medibank shares soared 9.95 per cent to $4.42 to be one of the strongest performing stocks on the ASX 200 on Thursday.
For the six months ended 31 December, Medibank reported a 6.1 per cent increase in revenue to $4.27bn.
While it was strong top line growth, it did not translate to higher profits, with Medibank saying net profits after tax slid 0.8 per cent to $340.3m.
On the other hand it was a miss for language testing and student placement firm IDP Education which saw its shares dive 7.5 per cent to $10.90.
The company warned of a sharp fall in earnings with less international students coming in on the back of reducing migration.
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