- Woolies flies after earnings beat
- Inflation cools but RBA still lurks
- Oil drops as Hormuz fears ease
The ASX 200 was trading flattish at lunchtime Wednesday, with earnings season keeping punters busy.
Oil got smacked overnight, with Brent down 6% to below US$87 after Iran and Oman talked up reopening Hormuz.
Back home, inflation cooled, but not enough to make the market crack a smile.
Annual CPI eased to 3.5% in July from 3.8%, but economists had tipped 3.3%.
Underlying inflation was the annoying part.
The trimmed mean rose 0.5% in July and held at 3.6% annually, above forecasts, so the RBA’s favourite headache is still hanging around.
The RBA has already hiked rates three times this year, and markets still see a 60% chance of another hike before Christmas.
US inflation is due tonight, then Fed chair Kevin Warsh gets the Jackson Hole microphone on Friday.
On the ASX this morning, three sectors were up, seven were down and one was flat. Staples led, while tech and energy were left carrying the bags.
Earnings season highlights
Earnings season keeps rolling through, with big caps serving up the usual mix of beats, resets and “trust us, this investment will pay off later” speeches.
Here are the highlights:
Woolworths (ASX:WOW) jumped 4% after underlying EBIT of $3.105 billion beat expectations by 2%, with Australian food sales picking up in the second half.
Turns out Woolies still knows how to sell a trolley full of groceries when it stops getting in its own way.
Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) cut its annual loss to US$9m from US$76.5m as Langer Heinrich ramped up and uranium prices stayed friendly.
Revenue jumped 71% to US$304.3m and uranium sales hit 4.35m pounds.
More reactors are being built, and they all need uranium. The market is finally pricing that in. PDN shares rose 3%.
DroneShield (ASX:DRO) clocked a $32.2m first half loss after hiring nearly 200 people and splashing out on R&D, production and systems, but revenue surged past $125.8m.
Guidance stayed at $250m-$270m, so it is still a growth story. DRO’s shares were clobbered, down 12%.
WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) saw profit fall 11% to $178.7m, even as revenue surged 79% to $1.4bn, mostly thanks to its acquisition of e2open.
Revenue still rose 10% excluding the acquisition, so the core business is travelling alright. Shares still plunged 8%.
Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU) paid its first dividend after Rett syndrome royalties rose 29%.
Profit fell 68% to $4.85m after it spent an extra $12.5m progressing NNZ-2591.
That’s the trade-off here: less profit today, but more money going into the next potential drug. NEU was down 2%.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP) posted a $134m loss after $256m of writedowns and 60 store closures, with revenue down 11.2% to $2.05bn.
New boss Andrew Gregory wants to ditch the endless promo code circus for everyday low pricing.
Sensible enough, although convincing customers to pay full price for pizza after years of discounts will not be a quick delivery. Shares plunged 10%.
Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) took roughly a $60m hit from Middle East disruption, pushing underlying profit before tax down 4% to $278m.
But total transaction value hit a record $25.7bn, corporate profit jumped 28%, and leisure travel is bouncing back. FLT was down 6%.
In other news, Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) hit more high grade copper near its MATSA operation in Spain and Motheo hub in Botswana, including 10 metres at 5.3% copper and 111.6g/t silver at Motheo.
Finding copper is great; finding it close to a plant you already own is even better, because it can save a serious chunk on development costs. SFR rallied 8%.
Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) locked in long term water for its Tumas uranium project and gave a Namibian partner a 5% stake, clearing two major hurdles before a planned investment decision late this year.
DYL was up 1% at lunch.
ASX LEADERS
Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:
| Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1TT | Thrive Tribe Tech | 0.002 | 50% | 975,000 | $5,253,285 |
| BDX | Bcaldiagnostics | 0.070 | 35% | 13,365 | $19,171,531 |
| TOR | Torque Met | 0.285 | 30% | 6,179,207 | $137,484,270 |
| GLL | Galilee Energy Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 1,360,000 | $7,245,152 |
| ZEU | Zeus Resources Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 200,000 | $3,300,209 |
| AYT | Austin Metals Ltd | 0.003 | 20% | 1,500,000 | $5,480,478 |
| COY | Coppermoly Limited | 0.006 | 20% | 181,161 | $4,413,287 |
| NIM | Nimyresourceslimited | 0.050 | 19% | 346,971 | $14,992,325 |
| AMD | Arrow Minerals | 0.013 | 18% | 1,346,323 | $18,494,450 |
| AEV | Avenira Limited | 0.007 | 17% | 5,989,764 | $32,580,538 |
| AUV | Auravelle Metals | 0.007 | 17% | 1,472,022 | $5,389,535 |
| CAN | Cann Group Ltd | 0.004 | 17% | 8,024 | $4,981,781 |
| NTI | Neurotech Intl | 0.014 | 17% | 10,001,345 | $19,392,840 |
| RKB | Rokeby Resources Ltd | 0.004 | 17% | 1,228,000 | $8,930,190 |
| TXR | Talonxresources Ltd | 0.007 | 17% | 1,597,001 | $5,591,981 |
| GED | Golden Deeps | 0.059 | 16% | 734,863 | $11,628,363 |
| HMC | HMC Capital Limited | 3.380 | 15% | 2,753,093 | $1,208,964,092 |
| CZN | Corazon Ltd | 0.115 | 15% | 620,006 | $23,902,017 |
| AIH | Advanced Innergy | 0.545 | 15% | 6,586 | $200,613,207 |
| LOV | Lovisa Holdings Ltd | 28.060 | 15% | 503,566 | $2,713,093,103 |
| IMI | Infinitymining | 0.008 | 14% | 250,000 | $3,919,287 |
| INF | Infinity Metals Ltd | 0.008 | 14% | 130,000 | $4,952,248 |
| LCL | LCL Resources Ltd | 0.008 | 14% | 165,486 | $8,438,550 |
| TSL | Titanium Sands Ltd | 0.008 | 14% | 271,083 | $16,413,230 |
| FLG | Flagship Min Ltd | 0.240 | 14% | 410,738 | $72,432,086 |
BCAL Diagnostics (ASX:BDX) has spent $1.5m buying another 8.25% of Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS) at 8c a share, lifting its total holding to 18.46%.
The deal gives BCAL a bigger stake in infectious disease testing tech alongside its cancer blood test push, while its main focus remains getting BREASTESTplus and Avantect into more hands.
Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) has hit an eye-watering 11m at 456g/t gold from 122m at its HHH deposit near Kalgoorlie, including 1m at 3,625g/t, with repeat assays supporting the result.
The company is chasing extensions to HHH’s 73,000oz resource with two rigs running, while also renaming its wider 351,000oz South Kalgoorlie package the Ritz Gold Project.
Cettire (ASX:CTT) saw revenue and active customers fall as US tariffs and Middle East tensions hit demand, reporting an $8.5m loss and cash down to $27.9m.
Adjusted EBITDA still improved to $17.1m as marketing spend fell, but “luxury stabilising” is hardly the same as shoppers rushing back for designer gear.
ASX LAGGARDS
Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:
| Security | Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEL | Winchester Energy | 0.001 | -33% | 13,800,000 | $2,569,528 |
| ARO | Altorometalsltd | 0.003 | -25% | 220,000 | $10,059,226 |
| AAJ | Aruma Resources Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 542,879 | $5,025,801 |
| BNL | Blue Star Helium Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 16,751,981 | $36,917,490 |
| ASQ | Australian Silica | 0.017 | -15% | 3,270 | $8,387,208 |
| 1AD | Adalta Limited | 0.003 | -14% | 1,498,964 | $11,242,592 |
| ADN | Andromeda Metals Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 2,619,836 | $32,365,434 |
| AQX | Alice Queen Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 3,876,567 | $16,244,097 |
| FEL | Forte Energy Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 100,000 | $6,062,027 |
| RFT | Rectifier Technolog | 0.006 | -14% | 169,158 | $9,673,888 |
| VIT | Vitura Health Ltd | 0.027 | -13% | 1,104,625 | $20,544,997 |
| APC | APC Minerals | 0.007 | -13% | 71,091 | $5,873,007 |
| FCT | Firstwave Cloud Tech | 0.007 | -13% | 937,122 | $17,015,047 |
| MDI | Middle Island Res | 0.014 | -13% | 1,047,612 | $15,893,148 |
| MHK | Metalhawk. | 0.128 | -12% | 910,392 | $17,891,922 |
| DRO | Droneshield Limited | 1.725 | -12% | 19,979,901 | $1,801,977,017 |
| ACM | Aus Critical Mineral | 0.024 | -11% | 28,410 | $3,367,507 |
| CC9 | Chariotresources Ltd | 0.080 | -11% | 19,931 | $20,420,265 |
| CNJ | Conico Ltd | 0.008 | -11% | 12,500 | $5,867,883 |
| M96 | Maverick Minerals Au | 0.008 | -11% | 1,237,066 | $16,623,958 |
| SP8 | Streamplay Studio | 0.008 | -11% | 250,000 | $11,981,289 |
| TEM | Tempest Minerals | 0.004 | -11% | 18,000 | $4,958,443 |
| DMP | Domino Pizza Enterpr | 17.980 | -10% | 614,260 | $1,902,517,069 |
| WOR | Worley Limited | 9.945 | -10% | 6,456,805 | $5,413,028,253 |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Adavale Resources (ASX:ADD) has prepared a resource update following further broad, high-grade gold intersections at its flagship project.
Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) has focused on defining a maiden resource target at its Manganese Mountain prospect within the Wandanya project.
Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) has delivered a 339koz gold resource for its project in WA’s Laverton region.
Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD) has announced a major resource milestone, establishing what it reports as the world’s largest scandium deposit.
St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) has advanced development studies to move its Araxá rare earths and niobium project closer toward production.
Terra Metals (ASX:TM1) has extended the Southwest PGM-copper-nickel mineralised system through its latest round of drilling hits.
West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1) has completed initial drilling at the Blind Freddie target.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
