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Market wraps 25th August 2021

Morning Bell - Jessica Amir

US stocks gained for the fourth straight day.

The Aussie share market will likely follow US stocks higher. The futures suggest a lift of 0.24%, with all eyes on travel, tourism and oil stocks.

Stay tuned, later today we will be releasing a full report on Zip (ASX:Z1P)’s results.

What to watch today:

  • The iron ore and copper prices both rose 0.4%. The modest gains supported BHP listed in New York, which rose over 1%, while RIO rose almost 3%. Expect Aussie listed BHP, RIO and other iron ore and copper stocks to rise today.
  • The gold price holds above US$1800.
  • Company earnings results today:
    • Afterpay (ASX:APT)’s key performance metric, its transaction margin, came in at 2.1%. This shows APT saw a drop in the money it makes from transactions (compared to last year’s net transaction margin of 2.3%). APT’s loss after tax deeply worsened, falling 597% to a loss after tax of $159.4 million, while the market expected a loss of just $17 million.
    • Zip (ASX:Z1P) is set to report later today.  
    • Medibank (ASX:MPL)’s annual profit grew 40% to $441.2 million, amid policyholder growth and less payouts. Profit beat the $424.7 million expected.
    • Adbri (ASX:ABC) 1H net profit grew 95% on the year to $56.6m. However, profit fell slightly short of market expectations of $60 million.
  • Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) is set to list and start trading today, with a market value of nearly $360 million. CU6 is a radiopharmaceutical company with five clinical trials currently underway, to treat various conditions and cancers.
  • Kuniko (ASX:KNI) is also a new listing, whose parent organisation is Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL).
  • Most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday include Qantas (ASX:QAN) and Monadelphous (ASX:MND).

Trading Ideas:

  • Austal (ASX:ASB) was reiterated as a Citi BUY, however the investment bank dropped ASB’s 12 month price target to $3.10 (previously $3.35). ASB has new US opportunities continuing to emerge. Citi recognises ASB trades at a 73% discount to its global ship building peers.
  • Alcidion (ASX:ALC) was reiterated as a Bell Potter BUY, with a $0.45 price target, implying 23% share price growth in a year.
  • Scentre Group (ASX:SCG), Firefinch (ASX:FFX) and CogState (ASX:CGS) are all giving off bullish charting signals, according to Trading Central.