Market Close: Comms drags ASX into the red

The ASX200 slipped into the red at close, 0.05 of a per cent down with industrials gaining 0.49% and IT 0.27% doing the heavy lifting offset by communications limping over the line, shedding -2.5%.

In the green

Webjet (ASX:WEB) shot up 8% on its financial results for the 12 months ending on March 31.

The company reported a net income of $72.7 million vs $14.5 million the previous year. 

Revenue was also up 29% to $471.5 million.

WEB closed at $9.09. 

Droneshield (ASX:DRO) was up 0.56% on news it’s received a repeat order of $5.7 million from the US government for a number of its C-UxS systems.

The order will be complete over several stages throughout the year.

DRO closed at 89.5 cents.

And Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) shot up more than 2.5% on its annual general meeting notes.

The company expects to launch multiple products by the end of year and early 2025.  Its revenue for Q1 2024 was up 75% on the previous quarter of last year.

TLX closed at $15.78.

In the red

The communications sector was a drag…. It lost around 2.5% – brought down heavily by losses from some of the sector’s giants; Telstra (ASX:TLS) shed more than 4%, TPG (ASX:TPG) was down around 0.85%, and Seek (ASX:SEK) lost 2.5%.

Car retailer group Eagers Automotive (ASX:APE) was down 15% on some of the notes it shared in its annual general meeting. 

The company expects to achieve underlying profit before tax for the first half of 2024 to be approximately 85% of the underlying profit before tax achieved in the first half of 2023.  

Management remains disciplined on focusing its operations and is optimistic regarding the outlook for the remainder of 2024 despite macro headwinds.

APE closed at $10.36.

And Inghams Group (ASX:ING) shed around 6% on news of a possible bird flu outbreak detected at a farm in the Meredith area of Victoria.

Investors reacted swiftly to the news out of panic that Inghams could be affected, but fears were short lived as the poultry producer quickly confirmed it has no farms in the region and there is no impact to Ingham’s operations or its supply chain.

Ingham closed today at $3.57.