The S&P/ASX200 (ASX: XJO) fell 0.5% on Thursday, weakening throughout the day as news continued to worsen.
Initially, it was US payment giant PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) delivering a strong earnings result, announcing strong take-up in its BNPL offering which will land in Australia mid-year.
Shares in Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) fell 7.0% and the IT sector 3.6% as investors grow concerned that PayPal will seek exclusive deals with key global merchants despite Afterpay’s first-mover advantage.
The highlight once again was the materials sector, which added 0.8% on the back of a strong day for BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP). The mining giant finished 2.0% higher, overcoming news that the Chinese government had ceased high-level discussions with Australia as our trade relationship continues to deteriorate.
On the positive side, the news sent the AUD tumbling to $0.77 US cents, which offers a boost to both commodity companies and those with overseas operations. Gold has continued to rally after struggling through the vaccine-led market rally.
Appen, Nearmap & Adore Beauty shares dumped
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) came under fire on Thursday as the company presented at the Macquarie Conference. The CEO didn’t provide a trading update, but highlighted changes in the industry that have been impacting Appen’s business. The Appen share price fell to new lows, finishing the day down 21.1%.
It didn’t stop there for Australian tech darlings on high multiples, with Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA) falling 23.3% after announcing it had received a legal challenge over a patent used for one of its ‘roof mapping’ applications.
Online beauty product seller Adore Beauty Group Ltd (ASX: ABY), which listed in October at a price of $6.75, has nearly halved in six short months.
On Thursday, the retailer disappointed investors delivering an earnings update suggesting earnings would grow between 43% and 47%, not enough to meet the $188 million target, sending the Adore Beauty share price down over 19%.
As highlighted regularly in this column, the quality of recent IPOs and many smaller Australian businesses, in general, is at a much different level to companies operating in the US with huge addressable markets, but attract significantly higher valuations and therefore sometimes higher risk.
NAB doubles dividend
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) rounded out the bank reporting season, doubling its interim dividend to 60 cents per share after doubling cash profit to $3.34 billion for the first half of 2021.
Importantly the company had no ‘extraordinary’ or ‘significant’ items and welcomed APRA’s decision to approve IOOF Holding Limited’s (ASX: IFL) takeover of the MLC business. NAB shares fell 3% despite the positive news.
ASX 200 today
The ASX 200 is set to rise when the market opens on Friday following a positive lead from US markets overnight. ASX tech shares will be on watch as the tech sell-off continued overnight. For all the latest, click through to Rask Media’s US stock market report.
