Jun.14 — The Chairman of the Hong Kong Exchange was caught off guard by China’s decision to impose new national security laws in Hong Kong, but remains supportive. HKEX Chairman Laura Cha spoke exclusively to Bloomberg’s David Ingles about the bill and the exchange’s busy IPO pipeline.
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Video released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department shows the fatal police shooting of a black man outside a fast-food restaurant in Atlanta on Friday. An officer was fired and Atlanta’s police chief resigned. Warning: Viewer discretion. Photo/video: GBI
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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) started last week strongly, continuing the upward trend of the past month. However, in a sign of the fragility in the markets, the ASX 200 then fell by 4.9% from the close of trading on Wednesday to the close of trading on Friday, leaving the week with very few ASX winners. This was in response to the largest fall in US markets since March.
The sectors below were home to some of last week’s biggest ASX winners and losers.
There were few ASX winners across the financials sector during last weeks trading. Insurance and diversified financials were hit particularly hard.
Two ASX 200 shares that led the plunge in the insurance sector were QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) and Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN). The QBE share price retreated by 13.17% and Suncorp shares fell by 13.49%.
Across the broader financial sector, the Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL) share price fell by 7.9% and lender Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP) saw a 11.52% share price drop.
Over in the buy now pay later sector, the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price rose by 5%. However, after a recent surge in the Openpay Group Ltd (ASX: OPY) share price, it plummeted last week by 30.4%.
Real estate was again the heaviest traded sector across the ASX large cap companies. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW), the European-domiciled shopping centre operator, saw its share price fall by 20%. Of the A-REITs focused largely on the Australian market, it was the Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) share price that recorded the largest fall of 12.6%.
One sector hit hard last week by continued uncertainty over the coronavirus was tourism. The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price was down 15.9%, and the Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd (ASX: EVT) share price fell by 16.3%.
The gold mining sector has seen continual share price falls over the past 2 weeks. However, as the market slid on Thursday and Friday, the share prices of gold mining companies again started to rise. Most gold companies finished the week either on par or slightly lower.
Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL) has been cutting a counter cyclical path over the past 3 months. Investors have supported Bellevue across market rises and falls, with Bellevue shares finishing last week up by 16.34%.
The pull back across the financial and tourism sectors shows how fragile the market is at the moment. Capital moved again to defensive sectors and into the gold mining companies. On Sunday, China announced it had a new wave of coronavirus diagnoses. For the foreseeable future, I personally intend to invest only in companies that are least impacted by the virus.
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Daryl Mather owns shares of Bellevue Gold Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Netwealth. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Scentre Group. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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If you’re lucky enough to have $10,000 sitting in a savings account and no immediate use for it, I would suggest you consider putting it to work in the share market where the potential returns are vastly superior.
But where should you invest these funds? I think the two top ASX 200 shares listed below would be great options:
The first ASX 200 share to consider buying with $10,000 is Nanosonics. It is a leading infection control company which provides a market-leading disinfection system for ultrasound probes. I’m a big fan of Nanosonics’ business model. As well as selling the units, the company also sells consumable products that the system requires to function. This means that as its installed base grows, so too does its recurring consumables revenues.
The good news is that its installed base, which is growing quickly, now stands at 22,500 units. This represents just under 19% of its global market opportunity of 120,000 units. I feel this gives it a long runway for growth from this product alone. However, another big positive is the impending release of new products targeting unmet needs. Not a lot is known about the products, but management has revealed that they have similar market opportunities. If they are a success, I believe they could underpin explosive growth in the 2020s.
Another ASX 200 share which I think could be a good option for a $10,000 investment is NEXTDC. It is a data centre operator with a portfolio of world class centres in key locations across Australia. NEXTDC has been growing at a very strong rate over the last few years thanks to the increasing demand for capacity at its centres.
This has continued in FY 2020, with NEXTDC reporting revenue of $97.7 million and underlying operating earnings of $50.9 million in the first half. This represents an 8% and 21% increase, respectively, over the prior corresponding period. Pleasingly, since then, demand for its data centres has increased thanks partly to the pandemic. The work from home initiative appears to have accelerated the shift to the cloud and looks set to underpin an even stronger second half result. And with more and more infrastructure moving to the cloud, I expect this positive trend to continue for some time to come. This could make NEXTDC a great long term option for investors.
And if you have some funds leftover, the five recommendations below look like potential market beaters…
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
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James Mickleboro owns shares of NEXTDC Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Nanosonics Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nanosonics Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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It was a disappointing end to the week for ASX 200 shares as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) closed down 2.5% at 5,847.80 points.
Last week I was watching Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP), SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (ASX: SKC) and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC).
The Stockland share price finished the week down 8.84% as the Aussie REIT pared back its recent gains. SkyCity shares finished down 4.10% while the Westpac share price slumped 4.79% to $17.89 on Friday.
After a disheartening week for last week’s top picks, here are 3 shares I’ll be watching in the week ahead.
I think the Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price is worth watching this week.
The Aussie oil and gas operator’s shares slumped 8.52% lower last week as one of many underperforming ASX 200 shares.
However, I think the technical environment remains pretty solid for Woodside. Factories are starting to ramp up production again and travel restrictions are being slowly eased.
That’s good news for the oil price and producers like Woodside over the next few months. Another ASX 200 share that could be worth a look is Scentre Group (ASX: SCG).
Scentre owns and operates Westfield shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand. Lower foot traffic due to coronavirus restrictions has hammered the Scentre share price 40.21% lower in 2020.
However, if restrictions continue to ease in Australia and New Zealand, we could see retail stores bounce back quickly this year.
Finally, one defensive ASX 200 share to watch this week is Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM). The Newcrest share price jumped 3.58% higher last week as investors got nervous.
If we see more volatility in the week ahead, I expect ASX gold shares like Newcrest to outperform once again.
These are just a few of the ASX 200 shares I’m watching at the moment. As always, I believe it’s important to focus on a long-term investment horizon rather than getting too caught up in daily or weekly moves.
For more shares to add your watchlist, check out these 5 ASX shares under $5 today!
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
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Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Scentre Group and Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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What a week… The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stunned investors last week with a wild ride that saw market volatility return in a rather dramatic fashion.
After a six-week streak of gains, the ASX 200 has now broken that run, diving decisively back below the 6,000-point milestone that it had only re-conquered in the week prior.
Market giddiness over the continuing relaxation of coronavirus restrictions helped the ASX 200 steam towards 6,200 points over Tuesday and Wednesday. But Thursday and Friday saw a marked shift in sentiment, and by the end of the week, the ASX 200 was back firmly below 5,900 points. This shift was likely sparked by the United States Federal Reserve, which issued some pessimistic economic updates mid-week. This included a prediction that the US unemployment rate would likely remain over 9% for the rest of the year, as well as an estimate that American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would decline by up to 6.5% in 2020.
These unfavourable numbers broke the back of the ASX run on Thursday and Friday and resulted in the market recording its first week in the red since April.
Once again, it was the ASX bank shares that were the major market movers last week. All four of the ‘majors’ were giving investors whiplash. But the most volatile was Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ). The ANZ share price was up nearly 7% from the prior Friday’s close by Tuesday afternoon, yet ended the week more than 4% lower off the same benchmark by Friday afternoon. Talk about a roller-coaster!
As mentioned, it was certainly a week of extremes for ASX shares, despite the shorter than normal trading week. Tuesday saw a robust gain of 2.4% for the ASX 200. Wednesday brought the first signs of volatility when the market recovered from an early dip to end the day up 0.06%. Then came Thursday and Friday with respective 3.1% and 1.89% falls. It could have been a lot worse too. After market open on Friday, the ASX 200 was down 3.4% at one point, but a late rally saw the ASX 200 closing at 5,847.8 points – cementing the week’s loss at 2.5%.
Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries (INDEXASX: XAO) also had a nasty week – starting off at 6,116.5 points and ending 2.3% lower at 5,959.9 points.
Let’s now have a look at which ASX 200 shares were the week’s biggest winners and losers on the Foolish gossip pages. As usual, let’s start with the losers:
Worst ASX 200 losers |
% loss for the week
|
| Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW) |
(14.15%) |
| Estia Health Ltd (ASX: EHE) |
(13.72%) |
| Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL) |
(13.04%) |
| Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) |
(12.86%) |
Last week’s ASX 200 wooden spoon goes to Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield – an ASX 200 share that can’t seem to keep itself off the losers list for more than a few weeks these days. The week’s slump appears to be a consequence of the European-based REIT getting kicked out of the ASX 100 index come 22 June. Traders appear to be getting in ahead of the index rebalancing and jettisoning their URW shares.
Estia Health suffered the same problem last week when it was revealed it would no longer be a part of the ASX 200 in a fortnight’s time.
Meanwhile, Southern Cross Media dropped despite no major obvious catalyst. This share is so volatile that investors don’t even seem to need a reason for piling in or out anymore.
And subdued demand and prices in the lithium market continue to weigh on Orocobre and other producers.
With the losers out of the way, let’s now take a look at last week’s winners:
Best ASX 200 gainers |
% gain for the week
|
| IPH Ltd (ASX: IPH) |
6.58% |
| Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) |
3.81% |
| Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL) |
3.75% |
| Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) |
3.58% |
Last week’s crown goes to IPH, a company that provides intellectual property services. IPH announced a major acquisition in New Zealand which investors obviously approved of.
It’s not often that an ASX blue chip makes the winners or losers list, but we have two here.
Coca-Cola Amatil shares were in demand last week. Investors seem to have decided this drinks giant might have been slightly oversold after its woes during the coronavirus lockdowns.
The ASX’s largest gold miner Newcrest also made the cut last week. Gold prices rebounded strongly late last week as investors got cold feet. Newcrest also announced a positive update regarding output at 2 of its mines, which also added to investors’ goodwill.
After last week, who the heck knows!
The markets will have to weigh up the positivity of the continuing Australian coronavirus success story (touch wood) against any further negative sentiment that comes out of the US markets. After falling more than 6% on Thursday, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered 1.9% on Friday. Whether this positive sentiment continues this week will likely play a large part in determining how the ASX pans out, in my view.
So before we get going on yet another week in this crazy town, here’s a snapshot of how the major ASX blue chips are looking:
ASX 200 company |
Trailing P/E ratio |
Last share price |
52-week high |
52-week low |
| CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) |
44.76 |
$284.32 |
$342.75 |
$207.51 |
| Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) |
12.21 |
$67.32 |
$91.05 |
$53.44 |
| Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) |
13.43 |
$17.89 |
$30.05 |
$13.47 |
| National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) |
16.68 |
$18.59 |
$30.00 |
$13.20 |
| Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ) |
12.88 |
$18.92 |
$28.95 |
$14.10 |
| Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) |
18.25 |
$36.67 |
$43.96 |
$32.03 |
| Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) |
22.02 |
$42.47 |
$47.42 |
$29.75 |
| BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) |
13.50 |
$35.99 |
$42.33 |
$24.05 |
| Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) |
13.96 |
$97.81 |
$107.94 |
$72.77 |
| Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) |
17.90 |
$15.91 |
$18.09 |
$12.77 |
| Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) |
18.23 |
$3.16 |
$4.01 |
$2.87 |
| Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) |
167.83 |
$14.19 |
$16.44 |
$9.10 |
| Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) |
36.11 |
$6.46 |
$9.30 |
$4.37 |
| Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) |
28.87 |
$30.09 |
$38.87 |
$20.70 |
| Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) |
40.59 |
$21.37 |
$37.50 |
$14.93 |
| Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) |
13.60 |
$115.60 |
$152.35 |
$70.45 |
And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:
Last week brutally proved that sentiment can turn on a dime and complacency in this market can be swiftly punished. At this point, I think all ASX investors should continue to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.
So let’s all hope for a resumption in positivity for the ASX 200 this week. But I would also urge you to have a think about how you might react if things get worse from here for ASX 200 shares. Having a game plan can help you to avoid emotional pitfalls that so often cripple a good investing portfolio. As always, fellow Fools, stay safe, stay rational and stay Foolish!
And make sure you start the week right by checking out the free report below as well!
3 “Double Down” Stocks To Ride The Bull Market
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Sebastian Bowen owns shares of National Australia Bank Limited, Newcrest Mining Limited, and Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited and Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Transurban Group, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Mary O’Grady and Dan Henninger. Image: Everett Collection
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