The S&P/ASX 200 closed 30pts higher (+0.36%).
In a nutshell:
Carl's away, so I've punched out a bite-sized Evening Wrap
ASX 200 ticked higher and finished the week up 1.19%
Wesfarmers shares soared after a Goldman Sachs upgrade
Let's dive in.
Fri 24 Jan 25, 4:46pm (AEDT)
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ASX 200 finished 0.36% higher and near best levels
Decent breadth, with 9 out of eleven sectors higher and 63.5% of ASX 200 constituents closing in positive territory
Weekly recap: Emerging Companies (+0.32%), All Ords (+1.07%), ASX 200 (+1.19%)
Discretionary was the best performing sector after Goldman Sachs upgraded Wesfarmers (+3.2%) to a Buy and a sizeable bounce for Premier Investments (+6.5%)
Energy stocks continued to slide, with a heavyweight name like Woodside down 5.2% in the last six sessions, in-line with a six-day losing streak for oil prices, down 5.3 since 15-Jan as Trump seeks to boost US energy production
Bank of Japan hiked interest rates by 50 bps to 0.5%, in-line with market expectations
Next week is going to be massive – Mag-7 stocks to report Q4 earnings, last week of January will see a few ASX-listed companies pre-announce earnings, Aussie December inflation on Wednesday and Fed rate decision on Thursday morning (market pricing in 99.5% likelihood of a hold)
Australia's January manufacturing PMI ticked higher to 49.8 from 47.8 in the previous month, within an arms reach of expansion territory, while services remained strong at 50.4 (down from 50.8% in December). Key highlights from the report include:
"Growth in activity was supported by higher new business, although export orders continued to fall in January."
"Average input costs increased at an accelerated rate in January, leading output charges to rise at the fastest pace in six months."
"Panelists often mentioned higher input material, energy, financing and wage costs contributing the latest increase in input prices."
"Business activity growth was again limited to the service sector, though the rate at which services activity rose eased to a six-month low."
Japan's core inflation climbed to a 16-month high, in-line with market expectations by boosting the case for rate hikes
UK's consumer confidence sank to the lowest level in over a year, down to -22 in January from -17 in December
+23.9% Synlait Milk (SM1) – 1H25 guidance pointed to big earnings turnaround, EBITDA to be in the range of $58-63m vs. $19.9m a year ago
+15.3% Earlypay (EPY) – Hired corporate advisor to assist with seeking bids for the entire company after major shareholder COG Financial Services announced plans to sell its 21.4% stake
+6.5% Premier Investments (PMV) – Myer shareholders approved the company's proposed demerger of Apparel brands on Thursday afternoon
+5.0% AMP (AMP) – Morgan Stanley flagged the company as their preferred play in the Australian wealth management sector, citing ~12x underlying FY25e PE and over 35% FY23-25e EPS growth as a compelling case
+3.2% Wesfarmers (WES) – Goldman Sachs upgraded the company to Neutral from Buy, citing several new growth drivers such as Bunnings market share gains, eCommerce/website growth and scaling of its lithium and healthcare businesses
+1.0% Clarity Pharmaceuticals (CU6) – Received US FDA Fast Track Designation for its Cu64 SAR-bisPSMA, a treatment for biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.
-15.2% Kogan (KGN) – Reported weaker-than-expected preliminary 1H25 earnings, adjusted EBIT was up 21.2% to $19.0m vs. Citi estimates of $21.4m or 11.2% miss
AMP retained Overweight; target up to $1.90 from $1.70 (MS)
Ampol retained Buy; target price cut by 1% to $32.0 (GS)
Challenger retained Equal-weight; target cut to $6.60 from $6.80 (MS)
Netwealth upgraded to Neutral from Sell; target up to $30.7 from $28.9 (CITI)
Regis Resources retained Outperform; target up to $3.50 from $3.40 (MQG)
Santos retained Buy; target price up 2% to $7.90 (GS)
Treasury Wine retained Buy; target down to $13.0 from $15.2 (GS)
Wesfarmers upgraded to Buy from Neutral; target up to $78.7 from $69.5 (GS)
Worley retained Outperform; target cut to $17.83 from $17.92 (MQG)
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