AU Morning Wrap: ASX Rallies 1%, Woodside Among Star Performers, Regional Banks Bounce

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · Mar 21, 2023 18:41

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• Wall Street extends gains as bank jitters ease, Fed meeting in focus
• ASX rallies 1%, Woodside among star performers
• Stocks to watch: Suncorp, Woodside, Star Entertainment
- Moomoo News AU

AU Morning Wrap: ASX Rallies 1%, Woodside Among Star Performers, Regional Banks Bounce

Wall Street Summary

Stocks pushed higher again on Tuesday, adding to gains posted the previous day, as concerns about the banking sector continued to ease. Attention now focuses on the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, set to be announced on Wednesday.

The $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ closed +1.0%, $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ finished +1.3% and $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ ended +1.6%.

The S&P 500 advanced 51.30 points to 4,002.87 -- its first close above 4,000 in more than two weeks. The Nasdaq concluded trading at 11,860.11, an advance of 184.57 points on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones rose 316.02 points to 32,560.60.

AU Market Watch

The $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU)$ jumped 1 per cent in early trade, with energy stocks in demand.

Bank shares bounced with regional lenders $Suncorp Group Ltd(SUN.AU)$ and $Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd(BEN.AU)$ rallying more than 2 per cent. The four major banks were not far behind, up around 2 per cent.

$Woodside Petroleum Ltd(WPL.AU)$ was among the star performers, up 4.2 per cent, boosted by a sharp advance in oil prices. Energy shares powered up 3.9 per cent.

$The Star Entertainment Group Ltd(SGR.AU)$ dropped 0.8 per cent. It appointed David Foster as its new chairman.

KMD Brands fell 0.5 per cent despite swinging back to profit.

Monadelphous Group edged up 0.1 per cent after winning $125 million in several contracts with mining heavyweights.

Stocks to Watch

$KMD Brands Ltd(KMD.AU)$: Sales of KMD Brands jumped 34.5 per cent to $NZ548 million in the six months to January 2023 as international travel and tourism boosted demand after the pandemic.

Net profit skyrocketed 352 per cent to $NZ14 million from the year earlier period. It declared a dividend of 3¢, fully franked for Australian shareholders.

Earnings rose 11.4 per cent to $NZ37.6 million, from the same period last year. Gross margin improved by 1 percentage point to 59 per cent.

$Monadelphous Group Ltd(MND.AU)$: Engineering company Monadelphous Group has secured contracts worth $125 million.

They include agreements to maintain services at Albemarle Lithium's operations in Kemerton in WA and other work for Rio Tinto in the Pilbara, Cape Lambert and Dampier ports. Monadelphous also signed contracts with BHP WA Iron Ore site to replace bridges in the Port Headland region and with Bechtel for work on Woodside’s pluto train in WA.

The company has signed $1.1 billion in new contracts and contract extensions since the start of the financial year.

$Healius Ltd(HLS.AU)$: Healius is taking the duck approach to takeover defence, presenting calm on the surface but scrambling like crazy underneath.

Having received a bomb from cheeky rival $Australian Clinical Labs Ltd(ACL.AU)$ to start the week, sources said Healius’ board met on Monday night to determine how to defend against the offer and keep other potential vultures at bay.

$The Star Entertainment Group Ltd(SGR.AU)$: Star Entertainment has appointed David Foster as chairman after the exit of Ben Heap effective on March 31.

Mr Foster joined the board as an observer in August until he received regulatory approvals in December.

He currently holds directorships on Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd, an ASX 100 financial services company, and is chairman of G8 Education.