In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a disappointing decline amid rising tensions in Ukraine. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 1.4% to 7,130.5 points.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are racing higher:

Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH)

The Cochlear share price has jumped 9% to $207.62. This follows the release of the hearing solutions company’s half year results. Cochlear delivered a 26% increase in half year underlying net profit to $158 million, which was well ahead of the market consensus estimate.

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

The Coles share price is up over 3% to $17.30. This follows the release of the supermarket giant’s half year results. Although Coles reported a 4.4% decline in EBIT to $975 million due to COVID impacts, this was ahead of the Visible Alpha analyst consensus estimate of $965 million. It also didn’t stop Coles maintaining its fully franked interim dividend at 33 cents per share.

Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC)

The Costa share price has stormed 7% higher to $3.21. Investors have been buying the horticulture company’s shares after a strong performance from its international operations helped drive a 16% increase in full year net profit after tax (before one offs) to $64 million. International sales grew 30% over the 12 months and now account for over a quarter of Costa’s overall sales.

Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX: MND)

The Monadelphous share price is up 10% to $10.92. Investors have been buying the mining services company’s shares following the release of its half year results. Monadelphous reported a 12% increase in revenue to $1,065 million and a 17.7% jump in net profit after tax to $30.1 million. This was driven by record half year maintenance and industrial services revenue.

The post Why Cochlear, Coles, Costa, and Monadelphous shares are racing higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Cochlear (ASX:COH) share price 6% higher on juicy 35% dividend spike
• Fruitful earnings: Costa Group (ASX:CGC) share price surges 8% on full-year results
• Coles (ASX:COL) share price on watch after COVID costs hit earnings

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 Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended COSTA GRP FPO and 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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It’s a bad day for most ASX shares today, with the broader market sliding lower this afternoon.

Though, there are some mid-cap shares going against the crowd to hit their highest point in 12 months.

The share price of both G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) and Capricorn Metals Ltd (ASX: CMM) have hit new 52-week highs on Tuesday after gaining 6.6% and 5% respectively.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently down 1.6% while the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has slipped 1.7%.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s boosting the ASX mid-cap shares to new 12-month records today.

What’s driving these ASX mid-cap shares to 52-week highs?

Owners of G8 Education or Capricorn Metals shares, pat yourself on the back. The two companies’ stock has roared to new 52-week highs today.

The G8 Education share price’s new 52-week high is $1.29. At the time of writing, the company’s share price has retreated to $1.27, which is still 5.37% higher than its previous close.

It comes after the early education and care provider released its earnings for 2021 this morning.

Its operating revenue increased to $866.3 million in 2021 – up from $777.1 million in 2020.

It has also recovered from 2020’s $189 million after tax loss to post a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $45.7 million last year. Though, that’s still lower than its 2019 post-tax profit of $52 million.

The company’s occupancy also rebounded to just 2.1% less than that of 2019.

There’s no such clear reason as to why the Capricorn Metals share price surged to its new 52-week high today.

However, the gold producer’s stock has been on the up-and-up lately. It has gained 18% since the end of January despite the company’s silence.

Though, the price of the golden metal might be helping to boost the ASX mid-cap’s share price.

As The Motley Fool Australia reported earlier today, concerns of rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine saw the price of gold increasing overnight. According to data from CNBC, gold futures are currently 0.6% higher at US$1,9112.20 an ounce.

Right now, the Capricorn Metals share price is $3.74 – 3.03% higher than its previous close.

The post 2 ASX mid-cap shares hitting new 52-week highs today 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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Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) has always been something of a pariah to ASX investors.

The share price has really gone nowhere for a long time now. In fact, it’s still 27% down on its peak before the global financial crisis just over 14 years ago.

Following an embarrassing Hayne Royal Commission, even recent times have been tough.

“NAB had been losing market share in the past 2 years,” Marcus Today portfolio manager Thomas Wegner told The Bull.

But there is more than a glimmer of hope now that NAB can turn its fortunes around.

Analysts bullish on NAB’s latest results

According to a CMC Markets survey, 11 out of 16 professional investors currently rate NAB shares as a “buy”. Eight think it’s a “strong buy” and 3 deem the stock a “moderate buy”.

The remaining 5 are hardly negative, simply designating the stock as a “hold”.

Bell Potter has slapped a $32.50 target on NAB shares, which is a 6.5% premium on Wednesday afternoon’s price. On top of that, a handy dividend yield of 4.2% is on offer.

Wegner said the recent results were pleasing.

“First quarter 2022 results were ahead of expectations. Cash earnings grew 9.1% on the prior corresponding period.”

He believes that qualitatively NAB shares are well prepared for a comeback.

“Improving customer satisfaction and market share gains were solid achievements given the challenging operating environment,” Wegner said.

“Management is also optimistic about the outlook and is targeting flat expenses in the 2022 financial year.”

NAB even made a foray into the neobank space last year, when it acquired fintech 86 400 for $220 million to absorb it into its digital brand UBank.

Investors are already climbing over each other to get their hands on the stock.

Last week The Motley Fool reported that the NAB share price hit a 4-year high, although it has cooled off a little since then to present a buying opportunity.

So far this year, NAB shares have climbed 2.2%, while the wider S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has fallen more than 6%.

The post Why NAB (ASX:NAB) has been losing market share, but its shares are set to soar appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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 Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) share price isn’t going anywhere today.

The ASX lithium share closed yesterday at 91 cents, losing 3.2% in Monday’s trading.

As for today, shares have been put in a trading halt at the company’s request.

Why is the Lake Resources share price frozen?

According to this morning’s ASX release, Lake Resources requested that shares be placed in a trading halt through to market open this Thursday.

Why?

The company is working on rectifying a “technical compliance issue”.

Lake Resources reported that it’s looking into whether “a cleansing prospectus should be issued or whether in the circumstances it should seek order from the Court in relation to its inadvertent failure to lodge a Cleansing Notice in relation to shares issued by the Company on or about 21 October 2021, within 5 business days of the issue of the shares”.

The ASX lithium miner said its failure to lodge the cleansing notice within the required 5-day timeframe was “due to an oversight”.

Lake Resources indicated it will still be releasing a brief explanation of the issue.

What is a cleansing notice?

For a concise definition of what cleansing notices are all about, we defer to the attorneys at HWL Ebsworth.

According to the law firm:

“The effect of a cleansing notice is to ‘cleanse’ the market with information that may not have otherwise been disclosed, or confirm that no such information exists, to create a level playing field and allow the issued securities to be traded by recipients. This means that in some circumstances early disclosure of information that is otherwise not required to be released to the market must be made.”

Lake Resources share price snapshot

The Lake Resources share price has struggled in 2022, down 17%. However, shares in the ASX lithium miner remain up 138% over the past 12 months. That compares to a full-year gain of 4% posed by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

The post Why is the Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) share price frozen today? 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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When it comes to dividends, the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) dividend is among the most popular on the Australian share market.

Or at least it has been historically. Over the last decade, a series of cuts has led to some income investors falling out of love with Telstra.

But the tide is now turning following the telco giant’s first half results and analysts are becoming increasingly positive on the outlook of the Telstra dividend.

The Telstra dividend

When Telstra released its half year results last week, the company’s board elected to declare an 8 cents per share fully franked dividend. This was in line with last year’s interim dividend and puts it on course to pay a 16 cents per share dividend again for the full year.

Incidentally, if you want to receive the latest Telstra dividend, you’ll have to be a shareholder before its shares go ex-dividend on 2 March. After which, you can look forward to being paid at the very start of the following month on 1 April.

What about the future?

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts don’t believe it will be too long until the Telstra dividend starts to increase at long last.

Its analysts are forecasting fully franked dividends per share of 16 cents in FY 2022 and FY 2023, then 18 cents in FY 2024, and then 19 cents in FY 2025.

Based on the current Telstra share price of $3.90, this will mean yields of 4.1%, 4.6%, and then 4.9%.

Goldman currently has a neutral rating on the company’s shares. Though, with a price target of $4.30, it sees potential upside of 10% for investors, which isn’t bad considering its strong gains over the last 12 months.

The post What’s the outlook for the Telstra (ASX:TLS) dividend? 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 owns and has recommended Telstra Corporation 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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Any investors in QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) shares may have watched intently as the insurance giant delivered its full-year earnings report last week.

As we covered at the time, QBE reported a statutory net profit after tax of US$750 million, rising strongly from the previous year’s loss of US$1.5 billion. That’s not quite as high as some investors were expecting, seeing as the QBE share price fell 9% after the report was released. Even so, QBE shares remain up 3.7% over the past month, and up 0.5% in 2022 so far, which is more than you can say for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). 

But a key part of QBE’s earnings report was its dividend announcement. Last week, the company declared a final dividend of 19 cents per share, partially franked at 10%. That was well above the insurance company’s interim dividend of 11 cents per share (also franked at 10%) that was paid out in September last year. It brings QBE’s total dividends for FY2021 to 30 cents per share. QBE shares will trade ex-dividend for this final payout on 7 March. Investors will get the paycheque on 12 April. 

Are QBE shares back to a dividend heavyweight status?

So how does this dividend stack up against QBE’s past payments? Well, it certainly looks good against the company’s FY2020 record. In the previous financial year, QBE only managed to fork out an interim dividend of 4 cents per share. It skipped its final payout probably due to the effects of the pandemic.

Perhaps FY2019 is a better year to compare against then. Back in FY2019, QBE was back to two dividend payments. The interim dividend was a 27 cents per share payout, franked at 30%. The final payment was worth 25 cents per share, franked at 60%. So that’s a total of 52 cents per share, well above the company’s recent payouts.

So QBE’s dividends have certainly recovered from the drought of FY2020. But they still have a long way to go to match the company’s bumper cash payments of FY2019.

At the current QBE Insurance share price, this ASX 200 company has a market capitalisation of $17.65 billion, with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 18.18. Plugging in the new final dividend, QBE’s dividend yield now stands at 2.5%. 

The post Banking on the QBE (ASX:QBE) dividend? Here’s what you need to know appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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 Bruce Jackson.

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The DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) share price is zipping upwards today after the company released its financial results for the full year ended 31 December 2021.

In afternoon trade, shares in the drone detection technology company are fetching 18 cents per share. This represents an increase of 9.37% from the company’s previous closing price.

DroneShield share price takes flight on rapid revenue growth

• Revenue up 91% to $10.6 million compared to the prior year
• Cash receipts reach $14.8 million, increasing 174% from FY20
• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) improves marginally to a $5.9 million loss from a $6 million loss
• Net loss improves 9% to $5.31 million
• Total pipeline for 2022 reaches $290 million
• Repeat customer cash receipts of $9.9 million, increasing 350% from previous year

What happened during the year for DroneShield?

The DroneShield share price is soaring on the back of a momentous year of operations for the drone defence company in 2021. The year saw DroneShield cement yet another consecutive year of revenue growth, as contracts flowed in from new and repeat customers.

Powering forward with its software-as-a-service ambitions, the company broadened its market into AI-powered realms of electronic warfare. This saw DroneShield land a $3.8 million 2-year R&D contract with the Department of Defence. Investors were pleased with this announcement, sending the DroneShield share price higher on the news.

Furthermore, the company expanded upon its talent throughout the year, doubling the size of its team to 60 people. According to the annual report, the new additions included engineers, sales and field support, and production technicians.

DroneShield has continued to build its presence in the United States over the past year. For example, 2021 involved numerous invite-only events in the US where the company’s products were tested and evaluated.

Management commentary

Highlighting the importance of DroneShield’s US operations, independent non-executive chair Peter James stated:

The US Government and military market is expected to be the single largest opportunity for DroneShield, being the largest counterdrone customer in the world. During 2021, DroneShield continued to position itself for that market, with additional hires in its Virginia office, making multiple initial smaller sales, ensuring compatibility to standard US Government software interfaces, and conducting multi-agency product evaluations and deployments.

The US business is led by a seasoned ex-military veteran team, experienced in scaling US Government sales and the associated steps towards larger purchases.

Additionally, James provided insight into the company’s forward movements. He said:

DroneShield has continued to grow its relationships with key defence primes in Australia and globally. This is expected to bring further cash receipts (in the form of outright sales and paid R&D contracts) in 2022.

DroneShield share price snapshot

DroneShield shareholders have been on a wild ride over the past year. For instance, the DroneShield share price has been as low as 14 cents and as high as 22 cents.

Despite the volatility, investors have little to show for the voyage so far, with shares up 2.9% in the 12-month timeframe. However, many ASX-listed companies have fared far worse than DroneShield during this time.

For context, Electro Optic Systems Holdings Ltd (ASX: EOS) is down 62% in the last year. Additionally, Austal Limited (ASX: ASB) has tumbled more than 20%.

The post DroneShield (ASX:DRO) share price surges as revenues soar 91% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Austal Limited, DroneShield Ltd, and Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended DroneShield 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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The Atomo Diagnostics Ltd (ASX: AT1) share price is falling today after the company reported its half-year results.

The company’s shares are currently swapping hands at 14.7 cents each, a loss of 18.33% on the day so far.

Let’s take a look at what the diagnostic testing company reported to the market after close yesterday.

Atomo share price slips amid half-year results

Highlights of the company’s half-year (H1 FY22) results include:

• Gross profit fell 30% to $1.76 million, down from $2.52 million in the previous corresponding period (PCP)
• Gross margin of 33%, down from 55% in the PCP
• Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of -$1.48 million
• Revenue up 17% on PCP (H1FY21) to $5.34 million
• Cash balance of $13.68 million at 31 December 2021

What else happened in the half?

The company said its overall gross revenue from customers grew 53% to $7 million versus the PCP. This was driven by the huge demand for COVID-19 tests. There was also growth in sales of HIV self-tests.

Atomo sold 420,000 rapid COVID tests in the first half of the 2022 financial year although the company said its January sales have outstripped total sales for the entire first half. Since then, however, market demand has fallen as “Omicron infection rates drop and free government tests impact the market”.

Nonetheless, the company has more than 120 enterprise and government customers and is still seeing demand for its products.

Management commentary

In its investor presentation, Atomo said Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has “significantly relaxed” conditions of supply related to home-use, self-test products in Australia.

Given greater acceptance of home testing in the community Atomo sees an opportunity to commercialise a range of rapid tests in the local market and has first mover advantage in HIV as well as established consumer product support established in country.

What’s next

In the near term, Atomo sees “immediate” revenue growth potential for COVID rapid testing. In the medium term, it foresees consumers globally accepting rapid testing in the home and the increased importance of home-based healthcare solutions.

Long term, it predicts fewer regulatory barriers to home testing, particularly in the United States. It expects well-capitalised market entrants building home-delivered healthcare will emerge. And there will be more demand for convenient healthcare services.

The company said the diagnostic market has “permanently changed”.

Atomo believes it can continue to meet demand for COVID tests in the Australian and New Zealand markets. HIV testing is also an opportunity and Atomo plans to target commercial agreements in the USA and China. The company also believes it has “first mover” advantage on Australia’s HIV self-test market.

The company’s cash balance has increased by more than $2 million since 31 December to $15.8 million at 31 January 2022.

Atomo Diagnostics share price summary

The Atomo Diagnostics share price has sunk 46% in the past year and is down 50% year to date.

For perspective, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned around 5% over the past year.

Atomo has a market capitalisation of roughly $61 million based on today’s share price.

The post Negative result: Atomo Diagnostics (ASX: AT1) shares plunge 18% on half-year earnings 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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The AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL) share price has jumped higher after a takeover bid that was rejected. Mike Cannon-Brookes isn’t going to give up on acquiring AGL yet.

For readers that didn’t see the news, these are some of the details of the recent bid:

Rejected bid

Mr Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield Asset Management lobbed a bid of $7.50 per share for AGL. This represented a 4.7% premium to the prior closing AGL share price of $7.16 on 18 February 2022.

The AGL Energy board thought that the proposal “materially undervalued” the company on a ‘change of control’ basis and wouldn’t be in the best interests of AGL shareholders.

The board believes that the proposed demerger of AGL Energy to establish two separately listed businesses – AGL Energy and Accel Energy – will deliver better value for shareholders. Both of those businesses plan to pursue action on decarbonisation. The demerger is planned to be completed by 30 June 2022.

Mr Cannon-Brookes will be responsible for 20% of the deal if it goes ahead, whilst Brookfield will go for the other 80%.

Mike Cannon-Brookes to power ahead with AGL pursuit

The AGL share price is still above the takeover bid level, which may suggest that the market is expecting a higher bid to come in.

Mr Cannon-Brookes himself has indicated that the interest is still there according to reporting by The Australian.

The newspaper reported that the consortium is “undaunted” by the opening bid’s rejection. For them, the next step is meeting with some AGL shareholders, talking with the AGL Energy board and perhaps lining up more funding partners that will help get the deal done.

Brookfield’s Asia Pacific chief executive Stewart Upson was quoted by The Australian:

Capital is required not just to invest in the clean, green stuff that everyone likes, but to invest in the businesses that need to transition from being heavier emissions and to get to lower emissions.

It’s designed to invest in a business like AGL, and then responsibly over a period of time – not immediately and say 10 years – responsibly oversee the accelerated transition of the business.

We have a chance to go back and engage with the company again. And look, this is just how these things go in Australia. We’ll have the opportunity to engage with the company and see if we can work our way towards something that the company can be supportive of. We’ll look forward to getting into due diligence and firming things up.

What about the loss of the coal energy generation?

A significant part of AGL’s energy generation, and Australia’s energy generation, comes from coal.

Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) recently announced that it was bringing forward the closure of Eraring to mid-2025. It said that the influx of renewables has changed the nature of demand for baseload power, undermining the economics of one of the country’s biggest coal power plants.

The AGL bidding consortium has promised not to remove AGL’s large coal power plants from the system until a similar amount of power generation has been installed.

The Australian reported on the consortium’s plan to replace 7GW of energy generation with at least 8GW of clean energy and storage.

Its goal is to make the company have net zero emissions by 2035, with Bayswater and Loy Yang A to close by 2030. This would be more than a decade quicker than the current plans by AGL.

Will power prices go up? Mr Cannon-Brookes says no and there is $20 billion to put towards clean energy and storage.

Accel Energy is the entity that will own the coal power plants after the AGL demerger.

AGL share price snapshot

Today, AGL shares have dropped 1.6%, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) falling 1.3% amid ongoing uncertainty with Ukraine and Russia.

The post Here’s why Mike Cannon-Brookes isn’t giving up on AGL (ASX:AGL) appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Coles and Cochlear impress, Nanosonics sinks
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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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is down 5% over the past 24 hours, currently trading for US$37,273 (AU$51,753).

Gold has gone the other way.

Bullion notched up another 0.4% overnight to trade for US$1,910 per troy ounce. That’s the highest gold price since August 2020.

Gold – and ASX gold shares – have been benefiting from increasing geopolitical uncertainty, and sliding when that uncertainty recedes.

The Bitcoin price, on the other hand, has tended to fall hard when investors look to park more of their money in perceived haven assets.

US-Russian summit proposal sent Bitcoin price higher

In yesterday’s trading, most ASX gold shares were well into the green in late morning trade even as the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) sold off. The Bitcoin price was also down 4% over the previous 24 hours.

Then news hit that United States President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin may meet for a face-to-face summit to defuse the chances of war in Ukraine.

As we reported here yesterday, gold shares sold off intraday while the All Ords rebounded.

What we didn’t report was that the Bitcoin price also leapt 2% higher on the news.

Which brings us back to Bitcoin’s concession to gold as the go to haven asset in times of turmoil.

An unlikely substitute for gold

In a report released last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted that the Bitcoin price moves were much more in line with risk assets than haven assets like gold or investment grade bonds.

According to the IMF report:

Stronger correlations suggest that Bitcoin has been acting as a risky asset. Its correlation with stocks has turned higher than that between stocks and other assets such as gold, investment grade bonds, and major currencies, pointing to limited risk diversification benefits in contrast to what was initially perceived.

Kanish Chugh, head of distribution at ETF Securities, also doesn’t believes that the Bitcoin price moves make it an unlikely alternative investment to the likes of gold.

According to Chugh (quoted by The Australian):

Our view is that bitcoin has merits as an investment. It’s a growth alternative. However, it is unlikely to function as a substitute for gold. Bitcoin is much riskier than gold and rarely regarded as a safe haven. Gold is clearly a defensive alternative.

The gold price is up 4.5% so far in 2022, while the Bitcoin price has fallen 22.4%.

The post Have Bitcoin price falls cemented gold as the best safe-haven asset? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin. 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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