ASX closed flat as losses in Energy was offset by gains in other sectors
Alumina gets takeover proposal from Alcoa
Aussie Broadband lobs proposal for Superloop
The ASX 200 closed flattish on Monday, as a selloff in the Energy sector was offset by gains in the Discretionary and Tech sectors.
Energy stocks sold of after crude prices were down by more than -2%.
The market is concerned about slowing demand for oil amid China’s woes at home, as well as recent hawkish signals from the Fed.
Traders are also wary about a string of inflation data to be released this week, with Australia, Europe, Japan, and the US to report their latest CPI figures. In Australia, the CPI is expected to rise to 3.5% for January, up from the 3.4% in December.
Stocks on the move today include Alumina (ASX:AWC), which rose +7% after Alcoa Corp lobbed a $3.4bn takeover proposal of the company – see more below.
Across the region, stock markets in Asia swung between gains and losses today. China market was down after Bloomberg reported that as many as 11 Chinese companies lost their credit ratings at Moody’s Investors Service, which withdrew the scores amid record defaults.
BIG CAP WINNERS
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap LTR Liontown Resources 1.16 8.14 14,944,452 $2,604,992,162 AWC Alumina Limited 1.10 7.60 19,478,752 $2,959,715,045 PLS Pilbara Min Ltd 3.91 6.54 28,301,878 $11,044,747,358 LOV Lovisa Holdings Ltd 31.00 6.27 664,105 $3,199,734,280 TAH TABCORP 0.74 6.12 7,456,572 $1,586,275,637 NEU Neuren Pharmaceut. 21.94 5.73 492,615 $2,642,422,777 REG Regis Healthcare Ltd 3.60 5.57 315,882 $1,026,529,074 APM APM Human Services 1.40 5.28 3,069,553 $1,215,266,078 GOR Gold Road Res Ltd 1.50 5.09 5,245,952 $1,542,022,830 SGR The Star Ent Grp 0.47 4.49 15,005,290 $1,276,562,990 ABB Aussie Broadband 4.72 4.08 3,106,505 $1,262,293,207 LTM Arcadium Lithium PLC 7.29 3.99 3,860,327 $2,962,353,748 NEC Nine Entertainment 1.80 3.75 2,416,692 $2,814,525,763 TPW Temple & Webster Ltd 12.50 3.61 300,671 $1,482,773,406 SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 10.57 3.38 389,621 $1,357,406,797
Suncorp Group (ASX:SUN) reported improved earnings for H1, primarily driven by a significant improvement in investment returns. Group NPAT for the half was $582 million, up 5.4% on pcp. Net investment returns were $396 million, up from $167 million in the pcp. Interim dividend was declared 34 cents a share, representing a 65% payout ratio.
Alumina (ASX:AWC) rose 7% after announcing that it has received a non-binding proposal from Alcoa Corp to acquire Alumina for a scrip consideration of 0.02854 shares of Alcoa common stock for each Alumina share. The proposal is at a 13.1% premium to the share price of Alumina on 23 February. Alumina has now entered into a Transaction Process and Exclusivity Deed with Alcoa, which grants Alcoa a 20 business day period of exclusivity.
Aussie Broadband (ASX:ABB) has also submitted a non-binding indicative proposal to acquire telco provider Superloop (ASX:SLC). Under the proposal, Superloop shareholders would receive 0.21 ABB shares for each Superloop share held.
BIG CAP LOSERS
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap TPG TPG Telecom Limited 4.92 -8.30 2,498,355 $9,966,071,346 AX1 Accent Group Ltd 1.92 -7.69 2,305,015 $1,171,150,648 NHF NIB Holdings Limited 7.72 -5.68 1,626,203 $3,961,383,856 IRE IRESS Limited 7.56 -5.26 425,448 $1,490,580,003 STO Santos Ltd 7.07 -4.78 7,582,039 $24,098,475,371 BXB Brambles Limited 14.72 -3.60 2,130,189 $21,249,242,764 YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 5.68 -3.49 4,392,334 $7,764,183,890 EDV Endeavour 5.10 -3.04 10,178,755 $9,420,554,889 GNE Genesis Energy Ltd 2.33 -2.92 63,611 $2,579,136,674 AZJ Aurizon Holdings Ltd 3.84 -2.91 2,063,810 $7,270,780,729 ILU Iluka Resources 7.01 -2.84 1,965,023 $3,071,692,897 PWH Pwr Holdings Limited 12.58 -2.78 191,771 $1,300,264,655 FLT Flight Centre Travel 21.26 -2.57 571,751 $4,790,753,836 VEA Viva Energy Group 3.42 -2.56 3,318,343 $5,420,023,527 CDA Codan Limited 10.01 -2.53 187,507 $1,862,116,481 APA APA Group 7.98 -2.51 2,175,546 $10,494,595,941
TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG) was the worst performing large cap today, down -8% after reporting that its FY23 Statutory EBITDA was down 12.2% to $1.875 billion, due to one-off gain on tower sale in FY22. EBITDA excluding this tower sale gain item from FY22 was $1.93 billion, which is in line with guidance. FY24 EBITDA guidance comes in between $1.950b to $2.025n.
Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV)’s H1 group sales grew by 2.5% to $6.7 billion, with Dan Murphy’s and BWS both driving increased retail sales, and an improved food and bar offering delivering growth in hotels sales. Group EBIT increased to $661 million, benefiting from cost optimisation, including $53 million in savings from the endeavourGo program, and gross margin management. Interim dividend was declared at 14.3c.
Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL)’s Measured, Indicated and Inferred Coal Resource for 31 Dec came in at 4,857Mt, down -6.6% from the pcp. Recoverable Proved and Probable Coal Reserves is at 970Mt, down -1.9% from pcp. Marketable Proved and Probable Coal Reserves was at 720Mt, down 1.5% on pcp.
The post ASX Large Caps: Alumina gets $3.4bn offer from Alcoa; Aussie Broadband lobs bid for Superloop appeared first on Stockhead.
