ASX News LIVE | ASX to Rise into Green for the Year, Cypto-Altcoin Season Begins, Sigma Healthcare, Kin Group Feature

The ASX 200 finished flat at 7,199.0, unable to break out after slipping down in the early afternoon.

The top sector today was Energy, up 1.16%, while the worst was Utilities, down 0.61%.

Iron ore miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue climbed 0.7% higher, putting both stocks at their highest levels since mid-2021.

Woodside rose 1.5% to $30.26, while Santos inched up 0.6% to $7.29 on talks of their potential merger.

Sigma Healthcare agreed to a huge merger with Chemist Warehouse, a move that will create a $8.8 billion pharmacy retail titan.

Star Entertainment lost 8.7% on growing concerns they could lose the ability to operate its Syndey casino after regulatory crackdowns.

Casino operator SkyCity Entertainment [ASX:SKC] have agreed to pay Macquarie NZ$204 million to settle a dispute over an Auckland car park.

SkyCity had agreed to sell the car park in New Zealand shortly before a fire damaged the property.

Macquarie declined to follow through with the agreed sale, starting a long-running dispute that the High Court of NZ recently heard.

Under the agreement, SkyCity will pay the sum and take back control of the car park, it told investors today. They went on to say:

‘SkyCity looks forward to working with MPF on the orderly transfer back to SkyCity of the Auckland car park business, which is a high quality, integrated operating asset that is a key driver for local gaming visitation.’

The ASX 200 is up by 0.22% to 7,210.7, just 0.03% off breakeven for the year.

Mergers and acquisitions have been the main story of the day with Sigma Healthcare and Chemist Warehouse agreeing to a merger, as well as Whispir in ongoing talks with Pendula of a takeover. Woodside Energy and Santos are also in the early stages of talks of a potential merger.

Only Materials and Utilities are in the red at midday, with all other sectors trading positively.

The top performing sector is Energy, which is up 1%, as oil prices lift overnight. WTI Crude is currently trading at US$71.48 per barrel.

On the ASX 200, the top performers are Contact Energy, up 3.10%, and Zimplats Holdings, up 3.03%.

We’re on track for another record year of gold buying by central banks.

Spot gold is up 4.18% in the past 30 days and up 13.80% in the past year.

At the current rate, central banks will purchase over 1,000 tons of gold, similar to last year’s heavy purchases.

Gold as a percentage of international reserves hit a historic low around the 2000s, but it is on track to moving above 20% of total reserves.

Central banks are on pace to buy over 1,000 tons of gold in 2023.

This would be the second ever year with 1,000+ tons purchased with 2022 being the first.

Purchases of gold are 2.5X larger than purchases in 2021 and 4X larger than purchases in 2020.

Currently, central banks… pic.twitter.com/YSVTfn8cvn

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) December 10, 2023

Bubs Australia [ASX:BUB] saw its share price rally this morning, up by 12.50%, as the company announced strong growth in sales performance in the US.

The company saw a record weekly USA revenue of over 770k in November.

Full-year revenue for the USA in FY24 is now forecasted to be at least $48 million, up 100% on FY23.

Bubs is not the number 1 infant formula goat milk in the US, with over 330,000 tins sold in the financial year.

Source: Bubs

Raphael Geminder’s Kin Group has lifted its buyout bid for Pact Group [ASX:PGH] as the billionaire continues his push to take the struggling packaging company private.

Kin Group has upped the offer to 84 cents per share, up from an original offer of 68 cents and 24% higher than Pact’s recent trading levels.

Kin Group, which already owns just over 50% of the company said that this is the final and best offer.

Shares in Pact Group are up by 22.63% in this morning’s trading.

Platinum Asset Management [ASX:PTM] has appointed Jeff Peters as chief executive today.

Mr Peters is American and previously ran McKinsey’s asset management segment and other U.S investment outfits.

He will assume the role once his working visa is approved, Platinum said in its ASX announcement. Mr Peters said today:

‘I’ve long respected Platinum through my prior work dealings with Australia. I’m excited by the leadership opportunity presented to me; Platinum has excellent foundations and an admired culture that has been built on the back of a differentiated investment approach and strong client focus. I’m keen to work with the team to see the company through its next growth phase.’

The board also saw a reshuffle, with new independent non-executive directors.

The Crypto cycle looks to be entering its next phase with big movements among larger-cap altcoins.

Here is an image with a simplified look at what historically has been the cycle in the markets.

That isn’t to say money isn’t still flowing into BTC, with the price of bitcoin up nearly 10% in the past 7 days.

But other big movers in the large caps have been:

• Ethereum up 7.5%
• Solana up 17.05%
• Cardano up 50.32%
• Avalance up 68.22%
• Polkadot up 31.45%

 

Good morning all, Charlie here

The ASX 200 opened up +0.10% to 7,202.0 this morning as Wall Street finished up and Oil prices recovered some of their losses.

In US stocks, the S&P 500 finished near best levels at a 19-month high. It was the sixth consecutive week of gains on the back of strong US jobs data and rising oil prices.

US unemployment rate dropped 0.2% to 3.7% in November, showing some resilience in the economy.

Wall Street: Dow +0.36%, Nasdaq +0.45%, S&P 500 +0.41%

Overseas: FTSE +0.54%, STOXX +1.11%, Nikkei -1.68%, SSE +0.11%

The Aussie dollar fell -0.22% to US 65.73 cents.

US 10-year bond yield +8bps to 4.23%. Australian 10-year bond yields +2bps to 4.35%.

Gold is up +0.10% to US$2,006.75. Silver flat at US$23.01

Bitcoin fell -0.29% to US$43,799.92, Ethereum rose +0.33% to US$2,362.41

Oil Brent fell -0.25% to US$75.65, while WTI Crude rose +2.70% to US$71.21.

Iron ore is up +0.78% to US$135.45 a tonne. Iron ore continues to surprise investors with its strength, trading up as a rise in Chinese steel output pushes up demand.