BPO TV

Market wraps 24th August 2021

Morning Bell - Jessica Amir

US stocks rallied for the third straight day as equities climbed back to record highs. Investors bought into oil, tourism and vaccine stocks.

Following the US, the Aussie share market is set to open higher.

What to watch today:

  • ASX listed vaccine developers are likely to rally, such as CSL (ASX:CSL) and Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX). This follows the US overnight, where Pfizer shares rose over 2%, BioNTech shares rose about 10%, Moderna rose 9%, and Trillium Therapeutics soared 188% off the back of news of a Pfizer takeover.
  • Expect oil stocks to charge. After the oil price jumped 6%, it partially recovered from its 9% pull back. This is its biggest weekly decline in 9 months.
  • The copper price jumped 1.9%. This supports stocks such as BHP (ASX:BHP) and Oz Minerals (ASX:OZL).
  • Company earnings results today:
    • Seek (ASX:SEK) reported a net profit of $752 million in the 2021 financial year, rebounding from 2020’s loss of $113 million. As for the current financial year, SEK guided that profit will be lower, between $190 million and $200 million, amid unprecedented COVID-19 conditions.
    • Boral (ASX:BLD) recovered from a $1.1 billion loss in 2020, swinging profit in FY21 to $639.9 million. This is an 156% improvement, beating market expectations of $260 million. The company will not be paying a final dividend, to preserve capital and remain cautious of COVID-19 conditions.
    • Johns Lyng Group (ASX:JLG) reported net profit grew 17% in the full year to $18.6 million, missing expectations of $21.2 million profit.
    • Western Areas (ASX:WSA) reported net loss after tax of $7.7 million, in line with expectations.
    • AMA (ASX:AMA) reported a net loss of $97 million, after the market expected a profit. AMA declared it is unable to pay a final dividend.
    • McMillan Shakespeare (ASX:MMS) reported net profit of $61 million.

Trading Ideas:

  • Best & Less (ASX:BST) was initiated as a Bell Potter BUY rating, with a price target of $3.30, implying 30% share price growth in a year.
  • Openpay Group (ASX:OPY), Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS) and Arometrex (ASX:AMX) are all giving off bullish charting signals, according to Trading Central.