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Hello, hello, and welcome to HotCopper’s The ASX Today for Thursday, Week 15, I’m Isaac McIntyre. A little less of a boom Down Under today after Wednesday’s Iran peace-fuelled rocketship took us as much as +2.7% higher, with Australian shares trudging into close nearly flat, down ~10 points by mid-arvo.
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As I said this morning before opening bell, it’s no great surprise that we’re not seeing another surge, considering Wednesday marked the biggest one-day rally for the Oz markets in more than a year. Tehran has also been insisting that several terms of yesterday’s major ceasefire agreement have already been breached, too – mainly by Israel, Iran said – which was never going to stir confidence.
Hesitation could also be coming from the fact that the Strait of Hormuz still remains closed despite all the peace talks between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, which means oil could stay restricted for quite some time yet.
Under that, it’s largely been about stability, with traders looking to pick up any bargains they could find from among the several down sectors yesterday.
That has mainly been in Energy, which is no surprise after it retreated -7.8%. The fact that the ceasefire (due to last another two weeks) feels so fragile may also have some more bullish investors banking on an oil resurrection.
Today, it’s the leading Aussie sector, helping Santos (ASX:STO), Karoon (ASX:KAR), and Woodside (ASX:WDS) gain back up to +3.6%. The latter had been whacked with its biggest fall since back in CY20, so it seems to have shaped up as the biggest quick value buy for all those Energy bulls I mentioned already.
In the same space, Ampol (ASX:ALD) and Viva (ASX:VTA) both jumped +3% after striking a bargain with Export Finance Australia. That deal will see the leading government agency underwrite each Oz company’s oil purchases.
Elsewhere in stocks, Bendigo Bank (ASX:BEN) has found itself squarely in the union firing line after slashing as many as 1,000 jobs. The bank has not yet said exactly how many roles would be impacted, but the FSU says it could be in the hundreds. Markets liked the move, though, and BEN has been up +9%.
Electro Optic (ASX:EOS) lost nearly -5% in value today, heading the other way after a court approved a $4m penalty to end the civil proceedings originally brought against EOS by financial regulator ASIC. The proceedings revolved around EOS issuing an earnings guidance that it expected its CY22 revenue to at least equal $212.3M. By late July that year, Electro Optic became aware its revenue was likely to be closer to $164M, but didn’t disclose the info for some fourteen weeks.
Finally, Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM) was the best of the bunch on the ADVFN top gainers board, adding +100% through to close today. The company had no announcement out, so that hike’s just been on market action.
That’s the ASX Today for Thursday, I’m Isaac McIntyre, see you in the morning.
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