Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) weakened under the weight of escalation between Russia and Ukraine. At the end of the session, the benchmark index finished 1% lower at 7,161.3 points.

There was a clear flocking of funds to the more typical ‘safe haven’ assets on Tuesday. Gold mining shares firmed alongside consumer staples. However, it was the oil and gas portion of the market that delivered the greatest returns today. Fears of tightening supply from Russia in the event of a conflict bolstered the price of oil today.

At the other end of the market, tech consumer discretionary shares suffered the steepest falls. These sectors experienced falls of 3.2% and 2.7% respectively.

However, the question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the top ten stocks that came through for investors:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, Cochlear Ltd (ASX: COH) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the hearing device maker surged 9.00% after the company reported a solid half-year result. Find out more about Cochlear here.

The next biggest gaining ASX share today was Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). The second-largest ASX-listed gold mining company gained 4.63% today amid rising instability on the geopolitical front. Uncover the latest Northern Star Resources details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Cochlear Ltd (ASX: COH)	$207.37	9.00%
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)	$10.16	4.63%
Lendlease Group (ASX: LLC)	$10.77	4.46%
Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX: WPL)	$29.25	3.76%
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)	$1.53	3.38%
Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX: MEZ)	$4.90	3.38%
Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV)	$7.41	3.20%
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)	$7.09	3.20%
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)	$17.27	3.17%
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)	$4.34	2.84%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check-in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 tech shares take a hammering as Ukraine fears escalate
• Here’s why the Northern Star (ASX:NST) share price had such a stellar day
• Opportunity? 5 ASX 200 shares that traded at 52-week lows today
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Tuesday
• Why Cochlear, Coles, Costa, and Monadelphous shares are racing higher

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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There are a lot of exchange traded funds (ETFs) funds out there for investors to choose from.

Three top ETFs that you may want to look deeper into are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA)

If you’re looking to gain exposure to the growing Asian economy, then the BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF could be worth considering. This ETF gives investors access to a number of the most promising tech shares in the Asian market. These are the Apples, Googles, and Amazons of the Asia market. Among its holdings you’ll find Alibaba, JD.com, Baidu, and Tencent.

BetaShares Cloud Computing ETF (ASX: CLDD)

Due to the ongoing shift to the cloud, companies with exposure to cloud computing look well-placed for growth. This could make the BetaShares Cloud Computing ETF a good option for investors looking to gain access to this theme. This popular ETF aims to track the performance of the Indxx Global Cloud Computing Index, which includes leading global companies involved in all aspects of the cloud computing market. This includes companies such as Dropbox, Netflix, Shopify, and Zoom.

iShares Global Healthcare ETF (ASX: IXJ)

Finally, investors that are interested in gaining exposure to the healthcare sector might want to look at the iShares Global Healthcare ETF. This ETF aims to provide investors with the performance of the S&P Global 1200 Healthcare Sector Index, before fees and expenses. This index has been designed to measure the performance of global biotechnology, healthcare, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals companies. This includes local healthcare giants CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) and Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC), and global players such as Astra Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi.

The post 3 fantastic ETFs for ASX investors today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 recommended BetaShares Asia Technology Tigers ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Praemium Ltd (ASX: PPS) share price has finished in the red on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the negative session for the financial services platform provider makes it the seventh out of the last eight trading days.

Indeed, it seems love has not been in the air for the Praemium share price in February. The series of falls has accumulated to a disappointing performance over the last month, falling 39.2%.

So, what has turned investors away from the company’s shares?

The financial platform arms race

It has been a big month for ASX-listed financial platform providers. In the space of six days, Praemium, Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL), and HUB24 Limited (ASX: HUB) have reported their half-year results.

The figures contained in each of the companies reports have likely been enlightening for shareholders. Given the similarity between businesses, investors can quite easily compare and contrast numbers between each of the companies.

This brings us to why Praemium might be struggling during this month. It began with its own half-year results, which failed to impress the market despite funds under administration (FUA) reaching a record $49 billion. This represented an increase of 43% from the prior corresponding period.

Rather, investors seemed to be fixated on the company’s net profit after tax (NPAT) swinging from $2.8 million to a $2.6 million loss. Hence, the market responded with an initial 14% battering to the Praemium share price.

Since then, Netwealth and HUB24 have released their numbers. In contrast, both of these companies delivered positive earnings, although Netwealth’s was relatively flat.

In addition, it became clear that Praemium reported both the slowest growing FUA and the smallest. It appears this has put a further dent in the Praemium share price.

Praemium share price compared to its peers

While the year hasn’t been fruitful for any of the major platform providers, it has been the worst for the Praemium share price.

Since the beginning of 2022, HUB24 shares have fared the best, falling 15.2%. Meanwhile, Netwealth shares have performed worse with a downward move of 22%. However, it is ASX-listed Praemium — with a fall of 47% — that has delivered the worst returns so far this year.

The post Why has the Praemium (ASX:PPS) share price plummeted 40% in a month? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Ups and downs: Praemium (ASX:PPS) share price tumbles 12% following half-year results

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Hub24 Ltd, Netwealth, and Praemium Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Netwealth. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Hub24 Ltd and Praemium Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price finished in the green today amid news the company has signed a new gas agreement.

The company’s shares were trading at $7.09 at market close, a 3.2% gain.

Let’s take a look at what the company announced today.

Milestone gas agreement

Santos revealed it has signed a gas agreement on the P’nyang Project located in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

The agreement is between the Papua New Guinea Government and all companies with a stake in the ExxonMobil-operated project. This includes Santos and affiliates of ExxonMobil and JX Nippon.

Santos stated it has a 38.5% interest in the P’nyang project. As my Foolish colleague Brooke reported last month, Santos increased its stake in the project via its merger with Oil Search.

Santos said the gas agreement is a “major milestone” that sets out the fiscal framework and project scoping and evaluation.

Commenting on the project, Santos said:

Subject to a final investment decision by the P’nyang participants, the ExxonMobil-operated P’nyang project would deliver LNG through new upstream facilities in Western Province linked to existing infrastructure, including our world-class PNG LNG plant near Port Moresby

Five per cent of gas produced at the project would be made available to support the government’s electrification goals in Western Province or another location.

Management commentary

Speaking further on the announcement, Santos chief executive officer Kevin Gallagher said:

The signing of the P’nyang project gas agreement demonstrates the commitment of all parties to the project and will bring economic benefits for the people of PNG when the project is developed.

I thank the PNG Government and the government of Western Province for their partnership with the P’nyang participants to move towards P’nyang project development, which is proposed to commence following delivery of the Papua LNG project.

Santos share price snapshot

The Santas share price has climbed 5% in the past year and is up 12% year to date. In the past week alone, Santos shares have fallen 8% but they have gained 0.28% in a month.

For perspective, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned around 6% over the past year.

Santos has a market capitalisation of about $24 billion, based on today’s share price

The post Santos (ASX:STO) share price climbs amid ‘major milestone’ appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Bruce Jackson.

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Shares in G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) moved higher today after the company released its financial results for the full-year ended 31 December 2021.

At the close on Tuesday, the G8 Education share price finished 5% in the green at $1.27 apiece after releasing its earnings.

G8 share price tanks amid earnings growth

Key takeouts from the company’s earnings results today include:

• Occupancy of 70.9% vs 67.8% in CY20 and 73% in CY19, reflecting strong H1 occupancy performance
• H2 being heavily impacted by COVID-19 movement restrictions and isolation requirements
• Operating revenue of $866.3 million compared to $777.1 million in CY20 and $918.9 million in CY19
• Operating earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $80.1 million (after lease interest)
• Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) of $45.7 million, up from Net Loss After Tax of $189 million in CY20
• Net debt of $25.9 million at 31 December 2021
• CY21 fully franked dividend of 3 cents per share declared, to be paid in April 2022.

What else happened in the last year for G8 Education?

The company says its strong occupancy performance in H1 last year, that was underlined by “the impact of the strategic change programs and re-establishment of the seasonal uplift trend”, was disrupted in the second half as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns.

The effect of COVID-19 lockdowns was abundantly clear because those states “not materially impacted by COVID-19, namely Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland” saw occupancy growth, G8 notes.

Operating revenue came in strong at $866 million, around $90 million ahead of FY20 which benefitted from a seasonal uplift trend but again this was levelled off by COVID-19 lockdowns in the back end of 2021.

G8 also had net debt of $25.9 million at 31 December 2021, following a successful refinancing in February 2021. The beefed up balance sheet meant the Group was able to remain resilient and flexible through changing conditions, the release notes.

As a result of this momentum, G8 grew its bottom line from a post-tax loss of $189 million in CY20 to record NPAT of $45.7 million for the year.

Consequently, the board declared a final fully franked dividend of 3 cents per share, to be paid in April 2022.

The company notes this represents a 56% payout of CY21 NPAT and thus fits in line with the Group’s dividend policy of 50-70% of NPAT.

In addition to the dividend update, G8 also advised investors of its intention to conduct an on-market buyback of up to 10% of issued capital, determined by a number of balancing factors.

Management commentary

Speaking on the results today, G8 Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Gary Carroll said:

Given the challenges presented by COVID-19 throughout the year, I am pleased with the result we have been able to achieve. Occupancy has been impacted right across the sector, and this was particularly felt in the second half as a result of an escalating COVID-19 environment. It has been encouraging to see our enquiry pipeline is strong, and great momentum in the lead indicators for occupancy – quality, family and team engagement – positioning G8 well in the COVID-19 recovery period. The strength of our balance sheet provided us with resilience during this period.

What’s next for G8 Education?

G8 notes there are near-term COVID-19 headwinds across the sector, which include unprecedented increase in closures during January 2022 without corresponding Business Continuity Payment support, isolation requirements causing lower attendances or centre closures, delayed enrolments and team member shortages.

However, its enquiry pipeline is strong and is in line with numbers seen back in January 2021. It also feels it is well-positioned to deliver upside in 2022.

“Strong underlying momentum in the portfolio, particularly in occupancy lead indicators, despite the challenging environment, positions the Group well for a COVID-19 normal environment” it said.

G8 Education share price snapshot

In the last 12 months, the G8 education share price jumped 9% and has spiked another 15% since trading recommenced on January 4. In the past month alone, it is up 18%.

The post G8 Education (ASX:GEM) share price spikes 6% as profits snap back in 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 2 ASX mid-cap shares hitting new 52-week highs today

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell 1% to 7,161 points. But the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) went down almost 3%. Many of the biggest ASX 200 tech shares have fallen heavily.

The Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price fell 3.1%.

The WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) share price went down 4%.

Another sizeable fall belonged to the Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) share price, which went down 2.8%.

Some buy now, pay later operators have plunged again. Just today, the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price has fallen 9.7%, the Block Inc CDI (ASX: SQ2) share price has dropped 4.3% and the Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) share price has sunk 9.3%.

What’s going on in Ukraine?

Eastern Europe continues to capture global headlines.

Yesterday it seemed that there was a chance that Russia could be headed for a diplomatic path with US President Joe Biden agreeing in principle to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But things have deteriorated since then.

Global media reported on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin officially recognising two breakaway regions of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists – Luhansk and Donetsk.

Then, Putin has sent Russian troops into Luhansk and Donetsk to perform “peacekeeping functions”. The BBC reported that Australia’s prime minister and a US envoy both say it’s “nonsense” to describe the deployment as peacekeeping.

Ukraine President Zelensky said that the country isn’t afraid and won’t “yield anything to anyone”.

Are sanctions incoming?

According to Reuters reporting, the US will impose sanctions on Russia and several other countries are planning to as well, including Canada.

The US has already put on sanctions to stop US business activity in the breakaway regions and ban importing all goods from those areas.

It’s still to be announced what sanctions would be implemented if Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Time will tell what impacts this has on ASX 200 tech shares in the long-term.

Other movements in the ASX 200

The best performer in the ASX 200 today was the Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH) share price, which rose 9% after its result.

Aside from Zip, two of the biggest declines belonged to the share prices of Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) and AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ) which fell 10.8% and 9.4% respectively.

The post ASX 200 tech shares take a hammering as Ukraine fears escalate appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns Altium. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Altium, Block, Inc., Cochlear Ltd., WiseTech Global, Xero, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended WiseTech Global and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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There is no denying that the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a pretty dreadful day of trading on the ASX boards this Tuesday. The ASX 200 ended up finishing the day down 1% after falling as hard as 1.7% earlier in the session. So that makes the Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price’s performance even more remarkable.

This ASX 200 gold miner ended up having one of the best days it has had for a while today. The company finished the day up a very pleasing 4.63% at $10.16 a share after opening at $9.85 this morning.

So what could be behind this marked outperformance for Northern Star?

Well, to put aside any obvious reasons, there has been no major news or announcements out of the gold miner today. Or indeed this week. Thus, we can only speculate.

But big moves from a mining company are almost always linked to news or price movements of the major commodities they mine. So let’s look at what gold is doing.

Gold mining share Northern Star glitters

Looking at the gold price, we can see it’s actually near its 52-week high. The yellow metal is currently trading slightly over US$1,900 an ounce at US$1,912. It was only at the start of the month that gold was under US$1,800. So we’ve seen a significant appreciation in gold prices over a relatively short time frame.

This can probably be explained by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis that has been dominating world politics recently. Gold is regarded as a ‘safe haven’ asset by many investors. This is due to a number of reasons, including gold’s physical nature and its history as a monetary base.

During times of economic or geopolitical tension, we often see gold rise in value as investors bail out of ‘risky’ assets like shares and into gold and cash. The Ukraine Crisis is a perfect example of global geopolitical stress. So this might be why gold has been on the rise over the past few weeks. My Fool colleague Bernd also looked into gold’s role as a safe haven earlier today.

So we have a rising gold price and increasing uncertainty across the global economy. As such, we can argue that this is why we have seen the Northern Star share price receive so much love during today’s trading session. We saw this playing out across other gold mining shares like Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) today too.

It’s not just today though. Northern Star shares are now up almost 8% in 2022 so far. As well as by more than 22.5% in February alone.

At the current Northern Star share price, this ASX 200 gold miner has a market capitalisation of $11.88 billion, with a dividend yield of 1.87%.

The post Here’s why the Northern Star (ASX:NST) share price had such a stellar day appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen owns Newcrest Mining 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Owners of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares likely know about the bank’s push into ‘green’ and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) loans and finance solutions.

But the broader public might not. That is, until today. This morning, the bank embarked on another push to bring its ‘green’ products to the forefront of the public’s minds.

As of Tuesday’s close, the CBA share price is $96.04. That’s 2.09% lower than it was at the end of Monday’s session.

Today was a rough day for the broader market as well. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) tumbled 1% while the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) slipped 1.13%.

Let’s take a look at today’s news from the biggest bank on the ASX.

CBA looks back on the birth of its ‘green’ solutions

The CBA share price suffered today amid a broader market slump.

In more positive news, the bank has sponsored an article on its ‘green’ and ESG finance solutions. It was published by the Australian Financial Review this morning.

The article discussed CBA’s ESG Term Deposits, its Green Repurchase Agreements, and its Green Development Loans.

The former was announced late last year when IFM Investors invested $200 million into the term deposit. Capital from the term deposit will be used to fund ESG-friendly loans.

Around the same time, CBA and Northern Trust announced the completion of a $50 million Green Repurchase Agreement.

Finally, earlier in 2021, CBA signed Australia’s first Green Development bond with Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC). The integrated property group used the facility to finance the build of a carbon-neutral office building in Victoria.

“Sustainable finance products are the pipes that connect global pools of capital to the companies transitioning their business to more sustainable outcomes,” CBA executive of institutional banking and markets, Andrew Hinchliff, was quoted by the AFR as saying today.

And ‘green’ and ESG-focused finance is a journey the bank is ready to continue in 2022.

It reportedly thinks the sustainable finance market will be boosted by clients’ demand for ESG funding this year.

“All clients are looking at how to transition, and how to demonstrate those commitments to their stakeholders,” CBA managing director of sustainable finance and ESG, Charles Davis, was quoted as saying.

“Companies turn to sustainable finance products to codify that commitment by directly linking their funding costs to the delivery of a critical strategy.”

CBA share price snapshot

This year has been rough on the CBA share price.

Today’s fall included, it’s now 6% lower than it was at the start of the year. Though, it’s still 15% higher than it was this time last year.

The post Own CBA (ASX: CBA) shares? Here’s how the bank is pushing its ‘green’ and ESG investment products appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Bruce Jackson.

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Last week we explored whether EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) might be an overlooked inflation play.

The question stemmed from the payment solution company suggesting each 1% increase in interest rates produced an additional $15 million in earnings before interest and tax.

In answering that question, we spoke with TAMIM Asset Management’s head of Australian equity strategy, Ron Shamgar. The main takeaway, EML appears to be well placed in a higher interest rate environment.

While discussing this matter, the experienced investor put forward a case for why gross debit volume (GDV) is less important than what some investors might believe.

What is gross debit volume?

Before we dive into why GDV may not be the most important metric for EML Payments, we should understand what it represents.

In the context of the payment processing world, GDV — or gross debit volume — is the dollar amount processed by the company via its payment platforms. Some other companies might refer to it slightly differently, whether it is gross transaction volume or simply transaction value.

For EML, GDV is the total sum of money handled by its payment solutions. Think of it as the total size of the pie before EML Payments gets to take its own slice.

For reference, the ASX-listed company recorded $31.6 billion in GDV for the six months ended 31 December 2021. Representing an increase of 209% on the prior corresponding period.

What is more important for ASX-listed EML Payments?

According to Shamgar, GDV growth alone is not exactly telling of the company’s performance. The reason behind this is the mix of various ‘take rates’ across different payment types.

Further explaining this, the fund manager said:

[…] if you think about Sentenial GDV, there’s kind of two parts to it. You’ve got the open banking GDV — which comes from Nuapay, which is the open banking subsidiary — that’s the sexy growth part that probably earns 30, 40, 50 bps [basis points]. And then you’ve got a lot of the existing Sentenial business, which processes that GDV, but really earns like 2,3,4,5 bps on it.

So, the GDV number is less important, because you could have a different mix of clips of it. Obviously, gift cards [from the Gift and Incentive segment] are very high at 4% or 5%. And then prepaid is like one and a half percent. And then, banking is maybe 0.3%. So it just depends on the mix in that GDV.

Instead of focusing on the overall size of the pie and trying to guess the composition of different take rates, the fund manager suggests an alternative focus for investors.

I think the way to look at EML is less focused on the GDV — because you never get to know the mix — and more focused on their revenue and margins and so on. I think that has obviously been impacted this year. But, I think we’re going to start seeing that go back up [in the] second half, and then into FY23 and FY24.

ASX-listed EML Payments finished the day with its share price 5.4% lower. The company’s shares are now down 26.1% since the beginning of the year.

The post Why EML (ASX:EML) shares could be set for a rebound, but not for the reason you might think appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Is the EML (ASX:EML) share price the most undervalued growth opportunity?
• Down almost 20% in 2022, is the EML share price now too good to ignore?

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns EML Payments. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended EML Payments. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended EML Payments. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Once a week I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) remains the most shorted share after its short interest rose to 15.45%. Short sellers aren’t giving up on this travel agent giant despite Australia’s borders reopening.
• Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) has seen its short interest surge to 11.3%. This may be due to the sky high multiples the betting technology company’s shares trade on and competitive pressures in the industry.
• Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) has seen its short interest rise week on week to 11.2%. Much to the delight of short sellers, this buy now pay later provider’s shares have fallen to a 52-week low this week after revealing a larger than expected loss during the first half. Concerns that Zip may need to raise capital are also weighing on sentiment.
• Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) has seen its short interest ease to 10.3%. This ecommerce company’s shares have been targeted due to concerns over its inventory management and higher marketing spend.
• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) has short interest of 9.9%, which is down slightly week on week. Once again, short sellers aren’t giving up on this online travel agent’s shares despite improving trading conditions.
• Mesoblast limited (ASX: MSB) has short interest of 9.6%, which is down slightly week on week. Poor trial results, significant cash burn, and the loss of a major deal with Novartis have all been weighing on Mesoblast’s shares.
• Nanosonics Ltd (ASX: NAN) is back in the top ten with short interest of 9.6%. Short sellers will have been pleased to see this infection prevention company’s shares crash to a 52-week low this week after its results disappointed.
• Polynovo Ltd (ASX: PNV) has seen its short interest rise to 8.9%. This high level of short interest may be due to concerns over this medical device company’s mixed performance and the lofty multiples its shares trade on.
• Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL) is back in the top ten with short interest of 8.1%. Last week this ecommerce company reported an 18% reduction in half year revenue and a whopping 95% decline in EBIT.
• Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) has seen its short interest rise to 8%. Short sellers will have been pleased to see this online furniture retailer’s shares tumble since the release of its half year results.

The post These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Opportunity? 5 ASX 200 shares that traded at 52-week lows today
• Why Nanosonics, Superloop, Uniti, and Zip shares are tumbling today
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Coles and Cochlear impress, Nanosonics sinks
• Own Zip (ASX:Z1P) shares? Rumours are circulating the company may be set for a capital raise
• Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) share price sinks amid 45% half-on-half profit decline

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. owns and has recommended Betmakers Technology Group Ltd, Kogan.com ltd, Nanosonics Limited, POLYNOVO FPO, Temple & Webster Group Ltd, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Kogan.com ltd and Nanosonics Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Betmakers Technology Group Ltd, Flight Centre Travel Group Limited, Temple & Webster Group Ltd, and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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