ASX at noon: Banks and miners lower, tech stocks rebound

The ASX is down -0.13%, struggling to find direction after last Friday’s impressive 2.2% rebound. 

While most sectors are trading in positive territory, the market is weighed by the underperformance of heavyweight stocks including the big four banks and iron ore majors.

11 ASX Sectors at 11:30 am AEDT

ASX winners 

Tech stocks are swimming against the tide, trying to rebound after the recent interest-rate-driven selloff. Notable winners include: 

• Block (ASX: SQ2) rallying 6.4% 

• WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) up 3.6% 

• Xero (ASX: XRO) bouncing 2.3% 

On the announcement front:

1 - Airtasker (ASX: ART) 18%: Weekly gross market volume (GMV) came in at a record $4.5m in December compared to $2.5m late-last year. Airtasker upgraded its second half FY22 guidance by 4.8% to $110m due to ongoing momentum and clear outlook on no further lockdowns.

2 - Mach7 Technologies (ASX: M7T) 16.8%: The medical software company reported year-to-date revenue of $14.3m, up 102% on last year. Mach7 reaffirmed that its financial performance is ‘on track with analysts’ projections’. 

ASX losers 

1 - Ansell (ASX: ANN) -18%: Preliminary first half FY22 earnings flagged a -24.7% decline in earnings. Higher-than-expected increases in freight and labour, manufacturing shutdowns and supply chain disruptions drove margins lower. 

2 - Siteminder (ASX: SDR) -5.4%: Siteminder reported maiden earnings after its ASX debut on 8 November, 2021. The hotel commerce platform first half FY22 revenues totaled $55m, up 10.4% from last year.

3 - PointsBet (ASX: PBH) -4.9%: PointsBet continues to trend lower after reporting its slowest turnover growth since listing in June 2019. Despite burning through $51.8m cash in the December quarter, the bookmaker experienced market share go backwards in the US market.