The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is tumbling as the broader market reacts to the United States Federal Reserve raising interest rates by another 0.75%.

Rio Tinto shares are down 2.46% to $90.35 at the time of writing, while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 1.73%.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials (ASX: XMJ) is the worst-performing sector index today, down 2.8%.

Rio shares aren’t alone in the turmoil. Fellow big players among the ASX iron ore shares are also down.

The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price is 2.7% in the red at $15.30. The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is down 3% to $38.05.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening.

ASX resources shares hit by triple whammy

So, there are three elements likely weighing on ASX resources stocks like Rio Tinto today.

First of all, the whole market isn’t liking the fourth consecutive 0.75% increase in US interest rates.

US rates are now at their highest level since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The ASX 200 also isn’t reacting well to US Fed chair Jerome Powell saying interest rates may go higher than expected.

In his statement, Powell said: “… incoming data since our last meeting suggest that the ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected”.

The second hit to resources stocks relates to the continuing fall in the iron ore price.

It went below US$80 per tonne this week for the first time since April 2020. The iron ore price has fallen by almost 17% in the past month alone, according to Trading Economics data.

The commodity’s value is dropping on fears of a global recession and lowering demand from China.

The third hit comes in the form of downgraded earnings estimates for iron ore miners from broker Citi.

According to reporting in The Australian, Citi has reduced its earnings estimate for iron ore miners. This is in response to Citi’s global commodities team cutting its forecasts for the iron ore price.

Previously, the Citi commodities team had been forecasting an average price of US$110 per tonne in 2023. It has now reduced its outlook to an average of US$95 per tonne.

The broker also tips the spot price to fall to US$70 per tonne in the December quarter.

Citi’s Paul McTaggart said:

The recent heavy sell-off in iron ore has seen prices fall to their lowest levels since 2020, as sentiment deteriorated post China’s 20th Communist Party Congress.

We’ve become more cautious on iron ore over the next six months reflecting the disappointing policy environment post the Congress.

In our base case, we expect some existing policy support could take effect under the new China leadership with the expectations that there would be better coordination within different government levels to improve overall executions. However, we are likely only going to see this happens after the March quarter.

… mining share prices have retreated as iron ore has moved lower. That said, we now see iron ore cost curve support and China’s imports of iron ore from non-major suppliers have contracted back to historic lows.

If our baseline economic forecasts prove correct, we now have an attractive entry point for key stocks.

Citi says the Rio Tinto share price is a buy

Citi has retained its buy rating on Rio but has cut its CY23 earnings per share (EPS) estimate by 16%.

The Rio Tinto share price is currently down 9.4% in the year to date.

The post Why is the Rio Tinto share price faring worse than the ASX 200 today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• How is the Qantas share price avoiding today’s carnage?
• Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Thursday
• Why is the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF taking a thrashing today?
• 3 ASX 200 directors buying up their company shares this week
• Why is the Core Lithium share price tanking 3% today?

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in BHP Billiton Limited and Fortescue Metals Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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The New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) share price has avoided the market selloff on Thursday.

In afternoon trade, the coal miner’s shares are up over 6% to $6.10.

This means the New Hope share price is now up almost 170% since the start of the year.

Why is the New Hope share price racing higher?

Investors have been scrambling to buy the company’s shares today after it announced an on-market share buyback.

Incredibly, despite rising by almost 170% in 2022, the company’s board and management teams believe the New Hope share price still “does not accurately reflect the underlying value of the Company’s assets.”

In light of this and after taking into account the company’s future expected operating and cash flow requirements, the board has unanimously approved an on-market buyback of ordinary shares for up to $300 million. This buyback is scheduled to commence on or around 17 November 2022 and be completed within 12 months.

New Hope believes the buyback represents an opportunity to enhance the value of the remaining shares on issue, as well as provide an opportunity to improve the liquidity of the stock.

New Hope chair, Robert Millner, commented:

The Company expects its strong cash generation to continue as demand for high energy and lower emission thermal coal outstrips ongoing tight supply. The Board has carefully considered how to return surplus capital to shareholders, in addition to the record fully franked dividends declared at the full year results.

We believe that the Buy-Back will benefit all our shareholders as it will reduce the number of shares on issue, thereby supporting the Company’s return on equity, earnings per share and dividend per share, for all shareholders who continue to hold shares in New Hope Corporation.

What’s next?

New Hope may not stop at this buyback when it comes to capital management.

The release notes that the company will continue to assess various options to return capital to shareholders.

Though, the exact nature, amount, and timing of any further capital returns beyond this buyback will depend upon market conditions and its capital outlook.

The post New Hope share price jumps on $300m buyback plans appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• If CBA is right, ASX 200 coal shares should keep the good times rolling
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is floating above a sea of red on Thursday despite no news having been released by the airline operator.

Though, the market is likely focused on the company’s 2022 annual general meeting (AGM), to be held tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the company’s response to 2022’s CHOICE Shonky Awards and word one of its major competitors could be considering an ASX float might be putting the spotlight on the airline.  

Right now, the Qantas share price is flat with its previous close, trading at $5.98.

For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has dumped a whopping 1.77%.

Let’s take a closer look at what might be going on with the national carrier’s stock today.

What’s buoying the Qantas share price today?

The Qantas share price is one of few ASX 200 shares not trading in the red on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Industrials Index (ASX: XNJ) is one of the market’s best-performing sectors.

It’s down just 0.51% right now, leaving only the S&P/ASX 200 Communication Index (ASX: XTJ) outperforming it with a 0.39% gain.

It comes as the market awaits Qantas’ AGM. The meeting will kick off at 11am AEDT on Friday.

All eyes will likely be on shareholders’ response to the company’s remuneration report and share rights. Proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services is recommending investors vote against the matters, the Australian Financial Review reports.

The advisor is said to be disgruntled by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce’s pay packet and potential entitlements under the recovery retention plan, which could see him walk away with nearly 700,000 shares. That parcel would be worth over $4 million right now.

All other proxy advisors reportedly support the resolutions.

What else is happening with Qantas?

The airline could also be garnering attention after being crowned Australia’s most ‘shonky’ brand of 2022.

The award, provided by Choice, labels Qantas “the Spirit of Disappointment”. The consumer advocacy group says:

If there were ever a company that appeared deliberately to be going out of its way to win a Shonky Award, it’s Qantas. 

Choice references “delayed flights, tales of lost baggage and chaos at airports, and customer difficulties in using credits accumulated from travel cancellations during COVID lockdowns and restrictions”.

Qantas quickly clapped back in a statement, saying the awards are “clearly out of date” and using “shonky” data. Qantas continues:

We had several months of poor performance earlier in the year, but it’s improved significantly since August and we’re back to our pre-COVID level of service… Choice is using figures that are just wrong.

We’ve beaten Virgin for on-time flights eight out of the past 12 months… Our call wait times are less than half what Choice is claiming. Our customers have redeemed more than $1 billion in COVID-related flight credits.

Speaking of Virgin, Qantas might also be front of mind as reports emerge that the competing airline could re-list on the Aussie bourse. The airline entered voluntary administration in 2020.

After many moons of speculation, The Australian reports Virgin’s buyer Bain Capital’s board recently flagged a 2023 float in a move to profit from the airline.

Qantas share price snapshot

It’s been just over a fortnight since the Qantas share price reached its post-pandemic high of $6.075.

It’s currently 19% higher than it was at the start of the year. And 7.5% higher than it was this time last year.

Comparatively, the ASX 200 has fallen 7.8% year to date and 7.2% over the last 12 months.

The post How is the Qantas share price avoiding today’s carnage? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why is the Rio Tinto share price faring worse than the ASX 200 today?
• Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Thursday
• Why is the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF taking a thrashing today?
• 3 ASX 200 directors buying up their company shares this week
• Why is the Core Lithium share price tanking 3% today?

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is down 2.99% even though the ASX mining share just announced a significant agreement to purchase renewable energy.

BHP is aiming to lower its emissions in the coming years. An important step with this plan is changing its electricity usage to renewable energy.

Olympic dam in South Australia represents “one of the world’s most significant deposits of copper, gold and uranium” according to BHP.

Renewable power purchase plan

The resources giant has signed a power purchase agreement with Neoen. This is expected to meet half of Olympic Dam’s electricity needs from FY26, based on current forecast demand.

BHP said that it would enable Olympic Dam to achieve a net zero emission position for the contracted volume of supply.

How much power are we talking? It’s expected to supply 70MW of electricity to Olympic Dam and will support Neoen to construct the 203MW Goyder South stage 1b wind farm, assuming all consents are obtained.

BHP revealed that this wind farm is to form part of the larger ‘Goyder renewables zone’ in South Australia, and will introduce new renewable generation into the South Australian electricity grid.

Neoen will also construct a large-scale battery energy storage system in Blyth, South Australia to support the purchase agreement, which will also “assist in improving the stability of the South Australian electricity grid”.

This is part of BHP’s actions to contribute to its medium-term target to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2 from operated assets) by at least 30% by 2030, compared to FY20. This could be important for BHP’s share price in the future, to attract green-focused investors.

Renewable electricity is also helping power other BHP facilities in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Chile.

Leadership commentary

BHP Olympic Dam asset president, Jennifer Purdie said:

The world needs South Australia’s high-quality copper to build renewable technologies and infrastructure, and BHP is focused on producing that copper more sustainably.

This agreement will support BHP on its decarbonisation journey, and provide new firmed renewable energy and increased stability to the South Australian grid.

Adding to that, the BHP chief commercial officer Vandita Pant, said:

BHP is consciously working towards our target of at least a 30% reduction in our operational emissions by FY2030. Renewable energy partnerships, such as this agreement with Neoen, are important steps towards that outcome, and our longer-term 2050 net zero goal.

Why is the BHP share price down?

At the moment, most of the ASX share market is down, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) down by 1.73%.

The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is also down by 2.47%, so it’s not as though BHP is alone in its decline.

This is happening despite the iron ore price climbing overnight, according to Commsec.

The decline in the ASX share market appears to be because the US Federal Reserve is going to get to a higher peak interest rate than previously expected, and perhaps stay there for longer.

The post BHP share price tumbles with ASX 200 despite renewables deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• What’s the forecast for the iron ore price right now?
• Why is the BHP share price racing ahead of the ASX 200 today?
• Which ASX 200 mining shares managed to dig up gains in October?
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• ‘It’s a buy’: Why are BHP shares in the good books of this expert?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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The Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) share price gained a whopping 17.8% in October.

Shares in the ASX lithium stock closed September trading for 90 cents and finished October swapping hands for $1.06 apiece.

That was a considerable outperformance over the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which gained a healthy 6% over the month just past. And it was a remarkable turnaround from September, when Lake Resources shares dropped 23%.

Here’s what happened over the month.

What were ASX 200 investors considering in October?

The Lake Resources share price got a big boost on 4 October following the company’s annual general meeting and another lift two days later on 6 October.

That’s when the miner announced a strategic investment and offtake agreement with WMC Energy at its Kachi Project, in Argentina.

The agreement stipulated that WMC Energy take a 10% strategic investment in Lake Resources for $1.20 per share. It provides WMC Energy with 50% of the Kachi Project’s lithium product, up to 25,000 metric tons per annum (mtpa) of battery-grade lithium (LCE).

On 12 October, the Lake Resources share price got another leg up after the miner reported on a separate offtake from Kachi.

The miner announced it had signed a conditional framework agreement (CFA) with lithium SK On for the offtake of up to 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of lithium from Kachi. As with WMC Energy, that’s 50% of the planned production from the project.

It was also reported that SK On would acquire a 10% stake in Lake Resources via the issue of new ordinary shares.

And the Lake Resources share price ended the month on a strong note, gaining 8.1% on 31 October following the release of the company’s quarterly report.

Among the numbers that look to have pleased investors, the explorer reported holding cash and cash equivalents of $159 million as at 30 September. It estimated that was sufficient for more than 14 quarters of funding.

How has the Lake Resources share price performed longer term?

The Lake Resources share price is up a whopping 489% over the past five years. That compares to a gain of 15% posted by the ASX 200 over the same period.

The post The Lake Resources share price leapt 18% in October. Here’s what drove the ASX 200 lithium share higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why Atlantic Lithium, Coronado Global, Lake Resources, and Rio Tinto are charging higher
• Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday
• Lake Resources share price leaps 10% on ‘excellent early results’
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed the lead of US markets and dropped deep into the red. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 1.8% to 6,863.2 points.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are dropping:

Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS)

The Bravura share price has crashed 54% to 60.2 cents. Investors have been selling this financial technology company’s shares after it announced the results of a strategic review. Management commented: “The review has indicated that whilst Bravura has solid foundations, the business will be required to be reconfigured to scale our products across customers. This will require enhancing the existing technology stack to unlock the existing microservices strategy, drive higher resale multiples on technology development and reduce single customer efforts.”

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP)

The Domino’s share price is down 10.5% to $53.70. This pizza chain operator’s shares have come under pressure after the release of a disappointing trading update at yesterday’s annual general meeting. Management warned that its earnings would be down “materially” during the first half.

Lendlease Group (ASX: LLC)

The Lendlease share price is down 7.5% to $7.94. This has been driven by the release of the property developer’s strategy briefing this morning. That briefing also provided an update on the company’s outlook for FY 2023. Lendlease now expects to only hit the lower end of its ROIC and EBITDA margin guidance for its businesses.

Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)

The Woolworths share price is down almost 4% to $31.99. Investors have been selling this retail giant’s shares following the release of a mixed first quarter update. Although Woolworths’ sales were largely in line with expectations, its key Food businesses underperformed due partly to weak online sales.

The post Why Bravura, Domino’s, Lendlease, and Woolworths shares are sinking appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why is the Domino’s share price down 13% in two days?
• Why is the Woolworths share price sinking 4% today?
• Why is the Bravura share price crashing 59% today?
• Woolworths share price on watch following soft Q1 update
• 2 ASX shares to cash in on ‘a very good Christmas’: expert

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bravura Solutions Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bravura Solutions Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Dominos Pizza Enterprises Limited. 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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Well, it was a top week for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) until today. The ASX 200 has taken its lead from the US markets overnight and is having a dreadful day of trading this Thursday so far.

At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has plunged by a nasty 1.77%, putting the index back to around 6,860 points.

But rather than dwelling on all of that, let’s instead check out the shares currently topping the ASX 200’s share trading volume charts, according to investing.com.

The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Thursday

South32 Ltd (ASX: S32)

Our first ASX 200 share worth checking out today is mining giant South32. We’ve seen a notable 10.97 million South32 shares exchanged on the markets so far this Thursday. There’s been no news from the company itself today.

However, the South32 share price looks to have been caught up in the market’s foul mood regardless. The miner has lost a painful 3.16% today and is down to $3.68 a share at present. This has probably elicited the high volumes we are seeing.

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)

Next up this Thursday is ASX 200 lithium share Core Lithium. So far this session, a hot 17.18 million Core Lithium shares have been traded on the share market. Core Lithium is another share that has had a very bouncy day. The company plunged as low as $1.32 a share this morning, but has recovered somewhat in the later half of the trading day.

Even so, the company remains down by 2.87% at $1.36 a share. It’s almost certainly this steep fall that has caused the trading volumes we are seeing.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

Finally this Thursday we have another ASX 200 lithium company in Pilbara minerals. Pilbara has seen a sizeable 17.7 million shares bought and sold on the ASX today so far. Again, it seems some volatile share price action is what is to thank for this elevated volume.

Pilbara shares also plunged in value this morning, going as low as $4.89 a share. But, just like Core, investors seem to have gotten cold feet with these losses, and Pilbara shares have bounced back to $5.05 a share at present, down 1% for the session.

The post Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF taking a thrashing today?
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• Why is the Core Lithium share price tanking 3% today?
• Perpetual share price surges 9% on new takeover bid
• Coles shares underperformed the market last month. What’s next?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a sizeable decline. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 1.8% to 6,861.1 points.

Four ASX shares that have not let that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are rising:

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

The A2 Milk share price is up 4.5% to $5.50. Investors have been buying this infant formula company’s shares after it was given approval to import, sell, and distribute products in the US market. Management estimates that it will ship 1 million cans of infant formula to the country during the second half.

New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC)

The New Hope share price is up 5% to $6.06. This morning, this coal miner announced plans to undertake a $300 million on-market share buyback. The buyback is expected to commence on 17 November and run for 12 months. Management made the move on the belief that the company’s “current share price does not accurately reflect the underlying value of the Company’s assets.”

Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT)

The Perpetual share price has jumped 7% to $28.85. This follows news that the fund manager has received but rejected a $30.00 per share takeover offer. Management believes the offer from a consortium comprising BPEA Private Equity Fund VIII and Regal Partners “materially” undervalues the company.

Talga Group Ltd (ASX: TLG)

The Talga share price is up over 5% to $1.29. This morning the battery materials company advised that the hearing for its Vittangi Graphite Project mine environmental permit has been scheduled by the Swedish Land and Environment Court. The hearing is expected to conclude the week of 20 February 2023. If approved, it would be a major step forward for the project.

The post Why A2 Milk, New Hope, Perpetual, and Talga shares are charging higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• It’s not all bad news for ASX All Ords shares today. Here are some big winners
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• Why is the A2 Milk share price defying the selloff and jumping 9%?
• A2 Milk share price on watch following US FDA approval
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended A2 Milk. 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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Writing in its latest monthly update, leading fund manager QVG Capital reports a positive return for its Long Short Fund in October, up 3.6% for the month versus a gain of 5.8% for the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO).

The QVG Long Short Fund is a ‘best ideas’ fund with the flexibility to take advantage of the best ASX opportunities regardless of share price direction or market capitalisation.

The fund’s solid performance in October was driven by its long positions, the top contributors being Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL), Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB) and IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL).

Aristocrat Leisure offers a diverse range of products and services, including electronic gaming machines, casino management systems, and free-to-play mobile games.

Although the Aristocrat Leisure share price jumped 15% higher in October, in tune with other ASX growth stocks trading on premium valuations, Aristocrat shares are still down 23% over the past 12 months. 

Writing about the company, the fund says Aristocrat is a beneficiary of the stronger US dollar. In addition, the QVG Capital Long Short Fund says, “feedback from the Global Gaming Expo of continued strong trading over recent months both for the US land-based market and Aristocrat’s market share bodes well for near-term earnings”.

The Hub24 share price climbed more than 20% in October on the back of a September quarter trading update which showed resilient inflows onto the platform amid elevated levels of stock market volatility. 

“Given the nature of financial markets, we were impressed with the strength of HUB’s flows. Commentary around revenue margins and operating cost growth were also encouraging,” the portfolio manager said in its monthly update. 

The IDP Education share price jumped almost 12% higher in October as the provider of international student placement services and high-stakes English language testing services continued to bounce back from a difficult period impacted by the pandemic.

Writing in its update, the QVG Capital Long Short Fund said it expects the headwind of falling valuations to no longer be the driving force behind the ASX stock’s performance. Going forward, the fund expects earnings growth will be the key driver of future returns, saying its English language testing and student placement divisions are recovering strongly. 

“IDP has a runway of multiple years of ~20% revenue growth as they exploit the benefits of their scale to entrench their market leadership.”

IDP Education shares trade at 75 times trailing earnings, with that multiple forecast to come down to around 50 times FY23 earnings based on S&P Capital IQ forecasts.

On the short book, QVG names EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML), Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) and Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) as top contributors to returns in the month of October. 

Respectively, regulatory issues, increased cash burn and another downgrade weighed on these share prices.

The EML Payments share price was hit for six on the last day of October when the global payments company was hit with yet more regulatory concerns.

The Megaport share price took a dive after the network-as-a-service provider released a lacklustre first-quarter trading update.

The post Leading fund manager names the 3 ASX stocks that drove its returns higher in October appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why has the EML share price rebounded 30% in 2 days?
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are 3 ASX All Ords shares that are off to the races today
• These were the worst-performing ASX 200 shares in October
• These were the best-performing ASX 200 shares in October

Motley Fool contributor Bruce Jackson has positions in Hub24 Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Appen Ltd, EML Payments, Hub24 Ltd, Idp Education Pty Ltd, and MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended EML Payments and Hub24 Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO. 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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

What happened

Over the last 24 hours, the price of Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC) jumped nearly 8% as of 3:40 p.m. ET after the payments company MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI) announced that it would enable users to trade and store several cryptocurrencies, including Litecoin, on its app.

So what

In addition to Litecoin, Moneygram will also allow users to trade and store Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). However, with Litecoin having much less of a following and a much smaller market cap, the news did not move Bitcoin and Ethereum in the same way it boosted Litecoin.

MoneyGram’s CEO Alex Holmes said in a statement: “Cryptocurrencies are additive to everything we’re doing at MoneyGram. From dollars to euros to yen and so on, MoneyGram enables instant access to over 120 currencies around the globe, and we see crypto and digital currencies as another input and output option.”

Moneygram has served more than 150 million people over the last five years, so it certainly has enough scale to spread more awareness of Litecoin and potentially grow adoption of the token.

Now what

Litecoin is actually one of the earlier cryptocurrencies, having been launched in 2011. At the time, I believe the value was that it could process more transactions than Bitcoin. There is also a finite amount of 84 million Litecoin tokens.

Unfortunately, since then a ton of new blockchain networks have popped up, all seeking to increase the number of transactions per second they can process. For this reason, and given the ensuing crypto winter, I’m really only interested in the more established tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum right now.       

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why the price of Litecoin is rising today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why A2 Milk, New Hope, Perpetual, and Talga shares are charging higher
• Leading fund manager names the 3 ASX stocks that drove its returns higher in October
• Why is the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF taking a thrashing today?
• It’s not all bad news for ASX All Ords shares today. Here are some big winners
• 3 ASX 200 directors buying up their company shares this week

Bram Berkowitz has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.   

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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