The ASX 200 has opened lower this morning led lower by selling in mining and energy stocks
Mining stocks have opened on a weak note this morning reflecting soft metals prices overnight. The mood has not been helped by the fact that executives of both BHP and Brazilian miner, Vale, expressed pessimism about the near term outlook for iron ore yesterday. Narrowing margins for steel producers, rising iron ore supply and current high inventories are expected to push the iron ore price lower.
The US profit reporting season continues to surprise to the upside with Amazon and Alphabet beating expectations when their results were released after the market closed. The Info Tech sector is the best performer on the local market today with Computershare doing its bit for the local side However, the impact of this good news has been limited for the Australian market today given the limited representation of tech stocks in our index.
Resmed unveiled a solid March quarter result last night but this was not enough to justify the optimistic rally in the share price in the days leading up to the result. Despite the fact that revenue was a little below consensus expectations it grew 14% on a constant currency basis. Sales outside the US were up a respectable 9% and the company is on track with plans to integrate its Brightree clinical software acquisition with its traditional sleep disorder products. Traders had clearly been expecting better, however, and this morning the stock is back to where it was last Friday
Tatts Group board is clearly not impressed by the private equity strategy of seeking to gain access to the books with a modest bid. Their refusal to provide the KKR consortium with access to the books has seen the stock down 2.5% this morning. However, the share price remains above Tabcorp’s offer suggesting shareholders have not given up on the potential for another bid to emerge.
