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ASX today – We’re heading into Thursday morning on the upswing in Australia, mainly thanks to Wall Street continuing its advance. Next, things turn to the biggest reporting day of the February earnings season Down Under.
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There’s a chance New York’s tech rally (Nasdaq +1.3%) falters somewhat should Nvidia’s results – due out soon, after U.S. trade wraps – but by then, we Oz should be in the swing of our own bumper earnings run, at least, and may escape a little more unscathed. (That’s only if it’s a worrying miss, too, of course.)
I won’t stay too long outside Australia because it is such a big report day, though it’s worth mentioning Europe hit record highs overnight; FTSE +1.2%.
We’re heading for a +0.9% leap in ASX 200 futures, which would carry us mighty close to some of our best-ever heights on the local bourse.
Earnings may help us there – let’s look at company news.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, Qantas (ASX:QAN) got us off to the races early: The airline’s lifted profits by $71 million, to $1.46 billion through the period. The company’s preparing to buy back $150M shares and will pay a 19.8c divvy.
Super Retail (ASX:SUL), which owns Rebel Sport and Supercheap Auto, saw a rise in sales but still dropped 20% in profits on auto and sports discounting.
And, Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG) will pay a 2c dividend after half-year net profits jumped 23%, to $379M. Sigma also flagged that sales of Chemist Warehouse stores climbed nearly 17% in CY26’s first few weeks.
Other companies reporting today include:
- Atals Arteria (ASX:ALX)
- Cleanaway (ASX:CWY)
- IDP Education (ASX:IDP)
- Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR)
- Macquarie Technology (ASX:MAQ)
- Perpetual (ASX:PPT)
- Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG)
- Worley (ASX:WOR)
Then, outside earnings, BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) has declared SGH Limited and Steel Dynamics’ latest bid, a fifth, $14.2 billion approach, is still too low compared to the company’s “fundamental value.”
And Corporate Travel (ASX:CTD) has flagged that it will resume trading in Q2, with its “forensic” accounting review to wrap March.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 71.2c.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is up +2.1%, selling at $98.80 a tonne in Singapore today,
Brent Crude gained +0.3%, to $70.98/Bbl,
Gold is selling at $5,191/ounce,
US natgas futures are up +3%, to $2.88 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading.
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