ASX Market Close: Choppy earning season continues; WTC pulls down tech

Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close, I’m Jonathon Davidson.

It was another lacklustre day as the ASX settled just above 8,300 points at close. It’s clearly another risk-off day on the market as earnings season has also proven to be choppy for the first half of FY25. 

Looking at sectors, Utilities was the biggest gainer up around +3.4% followed by financials up around +1.7%. The biggest faller was IT, down a whopping -7% – more on that in a moment – and real estate was the second biggest faller down -1.9%.

Let’s look at the greens.

The utilities sector was the best performer because it was dragged upward by positive results from pipeline giant APA Group, bucking the trend of disappointing results on Monday. APA shares were worth $7.15 per share at close.

Elsewhere, private health insurer NIB Holdings jumped nearly 13% as its earning report pointed towards a stronger operating future for the recently struggling stock. Stocks in NIB hit $6.70 per share at close. 

Finally, outdoor and digital advertising giant OohMedia was a similar story with investors smiling upon its latest earnings. The stock ended up nearly +15% higher, worth $1.47 per share as the market shut for the day. 

Now let’s turn to the reds.

The reason the IT sector had such a brutal fall was because Australia’s crown jewel of tech Wisetech plummeted over 20% after four directors left the board over concerns surrounding controversial founder Richard White. Mr. White, who it could be said has an interesting love-life, continues to be a thorn in the side for investors; Wisetech closed at $96.95 per share.

Elsewhere, ex-police-officer founded intelligence software provider and once controversial float candidate Nuix Limited fell close to -8% after its earnings failed to excite investors who did a deep dive on the intelligence provided in its earnings report. Shares closed at $4.41 per share.

Finally, Guzman Y Gomez fell -7% on no news as the market continues to digest last week’s earning report which showed the company only added 16 new stores in the first half of FY25. Guzman’s lofty valuation – questioned by many – depends on it being able to compete with McDonald’s, but so far, it’s a long way off building out 1,000 new stores. Shares closed at $35.86 per share.

That’s HotCopper’s Market Close for Monday, I’m Jonathon Davidson, have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.