ASX News Live | ASX Opens 0.25% Higher; Coles, Domino’s, Wisetech, Brainchip Feature

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.52% higher on Wednesday, nearly breaching 7,000 points.

The best performers of the day:

• Wisetech, up 12.5%
• Home Consortium, up 10.9%
• Iluka Resources, up 9.8%
• Pointsbet, up 8.7&
• Paladin Energy, up 8%
• Domino’s Pizza, up 7.6%

The worst performers of the day:

• EML Payments, down 10.6%
• Nanosonics, down 5.6%
• Adbri, down 4.8%
• Coles, down 4.6%
• ARB Corporation, down 4.5%

 

It’s no secret Goldman has been quite bearish on lithium.

In May, Goldman called the battery metals bull market ‘over for now’ and said they expected a ‘sharp correction’ in lithium prices.

Lithium is crucial for EV batteries, and the news shook lithium stocks off their highs.

But it seems now that Goldman has changed its mind.

In a note last week, Goldman told clients:

‘We expect battery and hydrogen storage solutions to continue to receive greater attention from investors, who we believe have not yet fully appreciated their importance in mitigating market disruptions.

‘Globally, we see several regulatory initiatives that could provide tailwinds to accelerate solutions such as battery storage and hydrogen to alleviate energy reliability issues.’

There’s a lot of money moving into renewables.

The US has recently passed the largest clean energy package in US history.

And there will be plenty more to come in the following decades.

Read full article here.

https://www.moneymorning.com.au/20220824/goldman-turning-bullish-on-lithium.html

Fat Tail’s Callum Newman chats with gold analyst John Feeney from Guardian Gold about gold in the current macroeconomic environment.

EML Payments is currently is down 14.5% after disclosing its Sentenial business identified “recent fraudulent activity relating an identified set of fraudulent merchants within its direct debit processing business.”

The fraudulent activity occurred this month and came to EML’s attention on Tuesday.

EML said it has already commenced steps to recover any losses.

The fintech said it was confident the maximum amount of any losses will not surpass $7.9 million.

EML completed the acquisition of Sentenial, including Sentenial’s open banking arm Nuapay, in the first half of FY22.

 

 

Coles saw total Supermarkets price inflation of 1.7% and 4.3% for the fourth quarter.

In Q4, fresh inflation was 4.7%, driven by bakery and fresh produce segments. This was partly offset by deflation in fruit, particularly in bananas and grapes.

COL’s cost of doing business (CODB) as a percentage of sales increased 0.5% to 21.4% due to COVID-19 costs, higher fuel costs and underlying cost inflation.

Coles is noticing inflationary pressures affect Australian households.

In its FY22 results presentation, Coles said Australian families are facing “increased pressure on household budgets.”

So much so that Coles customers are buying “significantly more $1 Coles pasta and our $1 coffee at Coles Express has never been more popular.”

 

Coles is currently down 4.5% after releasing its FY22 results.

• Sales revenue rose 2% to $39.4 billion
• EBITDA rose 0.2% to $3.4 billion
• Net profit after tax rose 4.3% to $1.0 billion
• Total dividend per share rose 3.3% to 63 cents

Coles Express revenue fell 5% in FY22, hurting the segment’s EBIT, which fell 37.3%.

The retailer said Express earnings “softened during the year due to reduced mobility from COVID-19 travel restrictions.”

Offering its FY23 outlook, Coles expects supermarket sales growth will be “cycling COVID-19 lockdowns in the first half of FY22 and price inflation in the second half of FY22.”

Coles also flagged “increasing inflation and rising interest rates placing pressure on many households.”

But households weren’t the only ones under pressure.

Like its customers, Coles said it was feeling inflationary pressures influencing its cost base with “increasing wages, rent, fuel, supply chain and capital costs.”

Coles will continue to invest in the business, however. The retailer expects capital expenditure to be between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in FY23.