AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
ASX Shares Rise, Megaport (ASX:MP1), G8 Education (ASX:GEM), and Collins Foods (ASX:CKF) Decline. Australian shares climbed 0.3% in early trading, buoyed by gains on Wall Street following revisions to US jobs data, which bolstered expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut next month. The S&P 500 rose by 0.4%, the Nasdaq increased by 0.6%, and the Dow Jones added 0.1%.
Gold remained close to its record high, oil prices fell, iron ore saw a rebound, and Bitcoin briefly surpassed USD 61,000 before easing.
The Fed's recent minutes reinforced the likelihood of a 25 basis point rate cut in September.
Stocks in Focus:
- Megaport (ASX:MP1): Shares of the tech company fell 15% following a disappointing earnings result that missed market expectations.
- Collins Foods (ASX:CKF): The KFC franchise operator's shares plunged 12% after it warned of declining profit margins in FY2025 due to rising labour, energy, and store costs.
- G8 Education (ASX:GEM): Despite reporting increased profits and earnings for H1 FY2024, shares dropped 15.3% to $1.24 amid concerns about future industry challenges.
- Medibank (ASX:MPL): The private health insurer posted a 14.1% increase in net profit to $570.4 million for FY2024 and announced a dividend of 16.6¢. Medibank is targeting average organic profit growth of at least 15% annually through FY2026 and is setting aside funds for potential acquisitions.
- Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ): The bank announced plans to reduce its workforce by around 400 employees as part of a restructuring effort, which will incur a $25-$30 million charge in FY2024.
- Super Retail Group (ASX:SUL): The retailer achieved record sales of $3.9 billion for the year ending June 29, a 2% increase from the previous year. Super Retail declared a special dividend of 50¢ per share.
- Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST): The gold explorer doubled its underlying net profit for the year to $689 million and raised its dividend to 40¢ per share.
- The Reject Shop (ASX:TRS): The discount retailer reported a 35.9% drop in net profit to $4.7 million, despite a 4.1% increase in sales to $852.7 million for FY2024, attributing the decline to rising costs.
- Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC): The company is selling a 30% stake in the Blackwater coal mine to Nippon Steel for USD 1.1 billion ($1.5 billion), with the deal expected to close in early 2025.
- Beacon Lighting (ASX:BLX): The lighting retailer reported a 10.5% drop in net profit to $30.1 million, despite a 3.6% increase in sales to $323.1 million, citing ongoing cost inflation.
- Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL): The company reported an underlying net profit from continuing operations of $216.6 million, up 13.6% year-on-year, but has paused its dividend.
