Zip Co, Flight Centre among ASX winners on Thursday

Some companies have managed to escape Thursday’s trading with a boost to their share price as the ASX ends flat.

The Australian share market has had a lacklustre finish after a hot start to the day.

The ASX200 ended Thursday with little over a single point over where it was on Wednesday before climbing by 0.02 per cent to end the day with 7325.00 points

Thursday got off to a roaring start, climbing 50 points in its first hour before coming back down again after midday before settling for the rest of the afternoon.

Zip Co and Flight Centre have emerged as standouts on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The majority of the sectors ended in the red on Thursday, led by healthcare which fell by 0.49 per cent and real estate which was down by 0.48 per cent.

Managing to avoid the plunge were the financials which rose by 0.40, IT which rose by 0.35 per cent and industrials which rose by 0.23 per cent.

Mineral Resources won the days trading, increasing its price by 5.16 per cent to end trading at $75.78.

The boost came from the announcement that Mineral Resources have finalised their agreement with Albemarle Corporation over a lithium mine and a lithium hydroxide plant.

Mineral Resources has increased its share of the Wodgina lithium mine to 50 per cent while remaining the operator of the mine and Albemarle will take full ownership of the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant.

Travel companies were on the up on Thursday with Flight Centre and Webjet both in the top five.

Flight Centre came in second place with its price increasing by 4.04 per cent to finish at $21.65 while Webjet came in fifth with a 2.72 per cent rise to end trading at $7.54.

It comes as Flight Centre announces it has exceeded its profit guidance, declaring its full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were between $295-305m, tens of millions above the half-year guidance of $270-290m.

Energy company Ampol took third place for the highest price jump of the day, increasing by 3.44 per cent to end the day at $32.21.

Telstra’s share price fell by 0.24 per cent to end trading at $4.20 after the major telecommunications company announced it will cut 472 jobs, as the company automates more of its operations.

A Telstra spokesman said the changes were being made to “address impacts from existing legacy products and services, as well as gaining efficiencies from increased digitisation, automation and new technology”.

Buy now, pay later company Zip Co saw its share price climb by 2.30 per cent to end trading at $0.45 after posting positive quarterly results.

The company has revealed its June quarter revenue jumped 21.1 per cent to $193.8m as its total transaction volume climbed 6.4 per cent to $2.3bn.

The company did not report whether it had made a net loss or profit for the period but did announce that it had 6.2 million active customers at the end of the quarter.

Thursday’s Biggest loser was Telix Pharmaceuticals, which saw its price plunge by a whopping 14.64 per cent to end the day at $10.38.

Northern Star Mining has also continued to fall, its share price tumbling a further 6.59 per cent on Thursday to end trading at $11.76.

The bankers received mixed results on Thursday, with both ANZ and NAB down by 0.43 per cent and 0.14 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac both received a boost, with CBA shares rising by 0.57 per cent to $105.25 and WBC rising 0.27 per cent to $22.12

The miners were also mixed today with BHP down by 0.11 per cent to $44.62 while Rio Tinto saw its price rise by 0.36 per cent to $116.42.

Fortescue outshone its counterparts, rising 1.35 per cent to $22.59.

Originally published as Zip Co, Flight Centre among ASX winners on Thursday