ASX at noon: NAB earnings beat, tech and miners outperform

The ASX is on a three-day winning streak, up 0.2% at noon. 

Wall Street paved the way for an upbeat session for the local sharemarket. Positive earnings from names like Uber, Disney and Chipotle reinforced the view that strong earnings can outweigh looming interest rate hikes.

11 ASX sectors at 12:15 pm AEDT

Risk-on for tech stocks 

The tech-led rally makes it look like investors have put interest rate fears behind them.

Last month's losers have turned into big winners in February. Today’s notable gainers include: 

• Block (ASX: SQ2) 9.6% (US-listed shares rallied 10.3% overnight)

• Megaport (ASX: MP1) 8.4%

• Computershare (ASX: CPU) 3.1% 

Fortescue shakes off China fears 

Fortescue Metals (ASX: FMG) tumbled -3.6% on Wednesday despite a 1.6% gain at open. 

This was triggered by news that Chinese authorities vowed to take further measures to ensure iron ore price stability. Iron ore futures on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange fell -5.1% on Wednesday morning. 

This isn’t the first time China has threatened to apply more red tape around its metals industry.

Fortescue isn’t calling China’s bluff, recouping yesterday’s losses, up 4.2% at noon. 

Sprott hauls more uranium

ASX uranium stocks are enjoying a broad-based rebound, including:

• Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) 6.8%

• Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) 8.1%

• Deep Yellow (ASX: DYL) 5%

Overnight, Sprott Asset Management added another 500,000 lbs of physical uranium to its trust overnight. The fund was the primary driver behind the uplift in uranium prices last year.

Sprott has so far purchased 3.6m lbs this year with 44.88m lbs in total (more than a third of global annual uranium supply).

Earnings roundup 

• AGL Energy (ASX: AGL) beat analyst expectations despite a sharp face-value decline in earnings. Net profits fell -41% to $194m and the company’s interim dividend was slashed -60% to 16 cents per share 

• AMP (ASX: AMP) reported a -$252m loss in the first-half of FY22, impairments and write-downs weighed on the bottom-line. The loss was in-line with Bloomberg estimates (-$266.5m est). AMP shares are up 4% at noon

• ASX (ASX: ASX) earnings were broadly in-line with consensus expectations. The company’s long standing CEO Dominic Stevens announced his intentions to retire this year, the likely catalyst behind today’s -3.2% decline

• Mirvac (ASX: MGR) shares are down -3% after its $297m profit missed consensus expectations of $315m. The building company flagged the extension of the Commercial Code of Conduct will pressure cash collection rates in the short-term for retail tenants 

• NAB (ASX: NAB) shares rose 3.1% after reporting strong growth in home and business lending segments. Cash earnings rose 12% but net interest margins continued to decline, down 5 basis points to 1.64%

• Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) reported a 43% rise in net profit in the first-half of FY22 to $261m, beating consensus estimates of $209.5m. Northern Star expects a stronger second-half as mining volumes and gold grades increase.