The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has just capped off an extraordinary week. The index managed to eke out a small gain, despite enduring a dramatic mid-week sell-off, which saw the ASX 200 lose close to 2% on one day. That was the ASX’s largest one-day loss in just under 3 months.

Despite this, four other days of gains saw the index just manage a 0.2% rise for the week, which took the ASX 200 to 7,030 points. That’s still a good 2% below the new all-time high we saw the index make a fortnight ago.

So what prompted the rather high levels of volatility we saw last week? Well, there was all kinds of money moving around, which seemed to spark a lot of the market gyrations. To start things off, the ASX banks had a fairly tame week, falling pretty much in line with the market on Wednesday, and rising with it on Thursday and Friday.

The exception was Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), which lost close to 3% on Wednesday. But that might reflect the recent high share prices CBA has been making of late. It remains the only ASX big four bank to have outperformed its 2015 all-time high, reached in 2021. Indeed, it even hit a new record high of $98.84 on Tuesday.

But the same can’t be said of the big ASX miners. BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) all had clangers last week. BHP fell more than 4% over the week, losing close to 1% on Thursday — a day the ASX 200 added more than 1%. Rio and Fortescue followed similar trajectories. The catalyst for these moves was (of course) further weakness in the iron ore price, which continued to descend from its all-time highs to under US$200 per tonne last week.

ASX energy shares were also in the firing line, as reports that Iranian oil might be rejoining the global supply for the first time in years circulated during the week. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX: WPL) shares had lost 4.3% by Friday afternoon.

ASX 200 ups and downs

ASX energy shares were also in the firing line, as reports that Iranian oil might be rejoining the global supply for the first time in years circulated during the week. Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) shares had lost 4.3% by Friday afternoon. But ASX gold miners were one sector that seemed to pick up some of the money flowing out of other commodities. The largest of these, Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), put on 0.54%. But some of the mid-tier miners were far more attractive propositions for investors. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) added 6.74%, whereas Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) managed a hefty 9.77% gain.

We also continued to see whipsawing volatility in ASX tech shares, as well as for cryptocurrencies. The most dramatic of these had to be EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML). EML suffered a rare and brutal 50% sell-off on Wednesday after the company disclosed it was under investigation by the Irish Government over alleged money laundering on its platform.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) was also in investors’ bad books after a less-than well-received trading update. Put simply, Kogan isn’t growing as fast as it hoped in the aftermath of the pandemic last year. It also flagged some inventory issues and increased costs. Investors weren’t impressed and sent Kogan shares to a new 52-week low.

In contrast, beaten down buy now, pay later shares Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) shrugged off previous share price weakness and rallied over the week. As for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), it (along with most other cryptocurrencies) had a shocking week, plummeting to a multi-month low of close to US$30,000 per coin on Wednesday. It then rallied back to around US$40,000 on Thursday, before again retreating back to around US$33,000 per coin at the time of writing. Just another week for Bitcoin holders I guess.

How did the markets end the week?

Well, the ASX 200 started the week out at 7,014.2 points and finished up at 7,030.3 points, making it a 0.23% gain for the index for the week. As we mentioned earlier, Wednesday was the only day in the red last week for the ASX 200. But what a day it was – delivering a 1.9% drop.

Despite this, we saw ASX 200 shares add 0.13% and 0.6% on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Following Wednesday, we had a 1.27% gain on Thursday and another 0.23% on top for Friday. That was enough to keep the week in the green overall.

Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also fared mildly well. The All Ords started out at 7,239.4 points and finished up at 7,265.3 points for a gain of 0.36%.

Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?

Time now for our most salacious segment, where we compare the ASX 200’s best winners and poorest losers. Put the kettle on, and we’ll start with the losers:

Worst ASX 200 losers	% loss for the week
EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML)	(34.6%)
Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)	(14%)
Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX: MND)	(10%)
Iluka Resources Limited (ASX: ILU)	(9.8%)

The aforementioned EML Payments was the ASX’s wooden spooner last week, with its hefty 34.6% loss. EML starts this week at the lowest share price the company has traded at since November last year. Likewise, the (also aforementioned) Kogan share price is currently exploring old territory. It starts the week at $8.70, close to 70% below the $25.57 all-time high it managed to hit last year. You have to go back to May 2020 to find the last time Kogan hit these prices.

Turning to mining operational company Monadelphous, and there is no obvious reason this company shed a substantial 10% last week. Perhaps investors just wanted a change of flavour. The same can’t be said of miner Iluka Resources. This company gave an update on its Sierra Rutile project last week. The company discussed production issues and announced a reassessment of the whole operation. This evidently did not impress the markets.

Now with the losers out of the way, let’s take a gander at the winning ASX 200 shares:

Best ASX 200 gainers	% gain for the week
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)	19.4%
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)	13.1%
Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)	11.9%
Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR)	9.8%

Last week’s winner Appen is a company that is slowly regaining the trust of investors, it seems. Appen shares were walloped earlier this month after the company’s CEO gave an evidently uninspiring presentation. But things seem to be turning around for Appen in investors’ eyes. The company announced a restructuring plan last week, which seems to have redeemed it somewhat. Appen is now up close to 20% since 14 May. But it’s also down close to 70% from its 2020 all-time high.

Xero is another ASX tech share that seems to be in recovery mode after a tough few weeks. There was no major news out of the accounting software company, so perhaps investors were just seeing a ‘buy-the-dip’ opportunity.

Likewise, there wasn’t a lot of official reasons why Corporate Travel Management shares were in demand last week. Perhaps the ongoing vaccine rollouts are giving investors some optimism with this one. And finally, Gold Road Resources was the best performing ASX gold miner last week. Gold prices have been on the rise again recently after a couple of month of stagnation. Gold Road appears to be the favourite play here.

A wrap of the ASX 200 blue-chip shares

Before we go, here is a look at the major ASX 200 blue-chip shares as we start on yet another week in paradise:

ASX 200 company	Trailing P/E ratio	Last share price	52-week high	52-week low
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)	37.96	$284.30	$320.42	$242
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)	21.81	$98.05	$98.84	$58.65
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)	21.95	$25.65	$26.43	$14.99
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ)	16.96	$28	$29.55	$15.19
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)	20.32	$26.47	$27.84	$15.22
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)	8.43	$22.30	$26.40	$12.95
Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)	37.02	$41.48	$42.57	$33.82
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)	32.69	$54.21	$56.40	$38.08
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)	27.08	$47.75	$51.82	$33.73
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO)	15.86	$122.12	$132.94	$90.04
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)	21.11	$16.60	$19.26	$14.97
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)	23.02	$3.43	$3.58	$2.66
Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)	–	$13.84	$15.64	$12.36
Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD)	–	$5.85	$7.49	$4.99
Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM)	18.06	$27.78	$38.15	$23.08
Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)	–	$21.61	$27.60	$16.80
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)	18.35	$151.28	$162.06	$102.45
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)	–	$93	$160.05	$41.68

And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:

• S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) at 7,030.3 points.
• All Ordinaries Index (XAO) at 7,265.3 points.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average at 34,208 points after rising 0.36% on Friday night (our time).
• Bitcoin going for US$33,500 per coin.
• Gold (spot) swapping hands for US$1,882 per troy ounce.
• Iron ore asking US$191.60 per tonne.
• Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$66.44 per barrel.
• Australian dollar buying 77.28 US cents.
• 10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 1.67% per annum.

That’s all folks. See you next week!

More reading

• 2 quality ASX 200 tech shares that might be buys
• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are highly rated
• 2 ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook

The post ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Tech shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) could be worth looking at because of the underlying growth that they’re achieving.

Businesses that have fallen a bit in recent times might be better value than a few weeks ago.

Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB)

The Hub24 share price has fallen by around 10% over the last month.

It’s currently rated as a buy by the broker Credit Suisse which has a price target on Hub24 of $27.70.

Hub24 is one of the larger ASX fintech businesses. The Hub24 platform offers advisers and their clients a large range of investment options including managed portfolios, enhanced transaction and reporting functionality.

It also owns HUBconnect, which focuses on leveraging data and technology to provide solutions to challenges for licensees and advisors, and helps with the delivery of professional advice to Australians.

Hub24 recently revealed its update for the quarter to 31 March 2021. It experienced a record quarter of net inflows of $1.9 billion, which was an increase of 41% year on year and $0.2 billion higher than the last quarter.

Its funds under administration (FUA) is now $51.4 billion, including the acquisition Xplore Wealth which contributed $17.2 billion as at 31 March 2021 with platform FUA of $35.6 billion (up 136% year on year).

The ASX 200 tech share’s new business pipeline continues to grow with 28 new licensee agreements signed during the March quarter, with large boutique licensees, self-licensed practices and a new distribution agreement with an existing Xplore client where additional Hub24 products will be offered alongside the current Xplore solutions.

According to Credit Suisse’s forecast, the Hub24 share price is valued at 49x FY22’s estimated earnings.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

The TechnologyOne share price has also fallen around 10% over the last month.

It’s Australia’s largest enterprise software company with offices across six countries. It provides a global software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to help customers get access to high-quality software anytime. It has over 1,200 corporations, government agencies, local councils and universities as clients.

UBS currently rates TechnologyOne shares as a buy with a price target of $9.15. UBS likes the Australian government growth, stronger UK position and the SaaS growth.

The business is due to hand in its FY21 half-year result this week, but the FY20 result included a number of growth measures. TechnologyOne saw underlying profit before tax increase by 13% for the year. SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 32% to $134.6 million.

TechnologyOne explained that its SaaS ERP solution helped when COVID-19 hit. Customers could seamlessly shift to remote working. Management said that COVID-19 has reinforced the significant value proposition of its software.

In FY20 the ASX 200 tech share continued to win new, large enterprise competitors. More than 30 organisations replaced its competitors’ systems, including from Oracle, SAP and Microsoft.

As the broker pointed out, it continues to dominate in the local government sector. It has closed 40 major deals with more than $45 million in total contract value. It now has more than 300 council customers. According to UBS, it’s valued at 38x FY21’s estimated earnings.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook
• These were the best performers on the ASX 200 last week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars

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If you’re a growth investor, then you’re in luck. The local share market is home to a number of top companies that have the potential to grow strongly in the future.

Three top ASX growth shares that have been tipped as buys are listed below. Here’s why they are highly rated:

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

The first growth share to look at is IDP Education. It is a provider of international student placement services and English language testing services. Although the immediate term will be tough because of the pandemic, it has been tipped to bounce back strongly once the crisis passes. In fact, analysts expect the company to exit the pandemic in a stronger position than when it entered it. As a result, it is being tipped to win market share and resume its rapid growth once trading conditions return to normal. UBS is positive on its future. It recently put a buy rating and $29.05 price target on its shares.

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Another growth share to look at is NEXTDC. It is a leading data centre operator which has been a big winner from the structural shift to the cloud. This shift is underpinning a surge in demand for data centre capacity, underpinning strong revenue and operating earnings growth. Another positive is the significant amount of its future capacity already contracted. This will be billed over the coming years, driving further growth, which could be given an added boost by a probable expansion into the Asian market. Offices have been opened in Singapore and Tokyo, and NEXTDC is actively assessing its options. Morgan Stanley is confident in its growth prospects and has put an overweight rating and $14.60 price target on its shares.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

A third growth share to consider is this rapidly growing buy now pay later provider. Zip has delivered explosive sales growth in recent years thanks to the increasing popularity of the payment method and its international expansion. This is particularly the case in the massive United States market, where its QuadPay business has really impressed. The good news is that it is still only scratching at the surface in this key market, potentially giving Zip a very long runway for growth over the next decade. This should be supported by its expansion in Europe. Morgans is confident on its future. It recently put an add rating and $10.30 price target on the company’s shares.

More reading

• The Cettire (ASX:CTT) share price is set to mint a new rich lister
• 2 fantastic ASX shares with long runways for growth
• Why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price is up 10% this week
• 2 highly rated ASX growth shares
• 3 top ASX 200 shares that could be in the buy zone

The post Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are highly rated appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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With interest rates likely to remain low for some time to come, the dividend shares listed below could be top options for anyone seeking a passive income stream.

Here’s why these dividend shares are rated as buys:

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

The first option for income investors to consider is Coles. This supermarket operator could be a good option due to its solid business model and very positive long term growth outlook.

And while its growth may be limited in the immediate term due to elevated sales in the prior corresponding period, this short term headwind will soon ease and then Coles has been tipped to resume its growth. This should lead to growing dividends over the coming years.

Goldman Sachs expects this to be the case and is forecasting dividends per share of 62 cents in FY 2021 and then 66 cents in FY 2022. Based on the current Coles share price of $16.60, this will mean fully franked yields of 3.7% and 4%, respectively, over the next two years.

The broker has a buy rating and $20.50 price target on the company’s shares.

More reading

• The ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price leads the ASX 200 banks this week
• 2 ASX dividend shares that could offer yields of 5% or more today
• Consumer sentiment is down 5% this month: Westpac
• ASX bank shares primed for dividend bonanza
• 2 high quality ASX shares for your retirement portfolio

The post 2 ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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On Friday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished a mildly positive week with a small gain. The benchmark index rose 0.15% to 7,030.3 points.

Will the market be able to build on this on Monday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 futures pointing lower

The Australian share market looks set to start the week on a subdued note. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the week 5 points or 0.1% lower this morning following a mixed finish on Wall Street. In the United States on Friday, the Dow Jones rose 0.35%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 0.5%.

Aristocrat Leisure half year results

The Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) share price will be one to watch this morning when it releases its half year results. The gaming technology company expects to report a 12% increase in normalised net profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired intangibles (NPATA) to $412 million. This has been driven by stronger than expected performances from both its Gaming and Digital businesses.

Oil prices jump

It could be a good start to the week for energy producers such as Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) after oil prices jumped on Friday. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price rose 2.7% to US$63.58 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price climbed 2% to US$66.44 a barrel. This wasn’t enough to stop both benchmarks from recording weekly declines.

Gold price softens

Gold miners including Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) will be on watch today after the gold price softened on Friday night. According to CNBC, the spot gold price fell 0.3% to US$1,878.9 an ounce. Despite this, the precious metal recorded a 2.2% gain for the week.

Iron ore price slides again

BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) shares could come under pressure today after the iron ore price continued to slide. According to Metal Bulletin, the spot iron ore price has fallen a sizeable 5.3% to US$200.72 a tonne.

More reading

• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• These were the best performers on the ASX 200 last week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• ASX 200 shares cashing in on the rising gold price this week

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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At the small end of the Australian share market, there are a number of companies with the potential to grow materially in the future.

Three that investors might want to get better acquainted with are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8)

Audinate is the digital audio-visual networking technologies provider behind the popular Dante audio over IP networking solution. This solution is used across a number of industries and is the clear industry leader. This puts the company in a great position to benefit from increasing demand once the pandemic passes. In fact, pent-up demand is already showing, with Audinate reporting its highest ever quarterly revenue during the third quarter.

Booktopia Group Ltd (ASX: BKG)

The second small cap ASX share to watch is Booktopia. This online book retailer has been growing at an explosive rate since its IPO late last year. For example, during the first half, the company reported a 51.1% increase in revenue to $112.6 million and a 502.3% jump in underlying EBITDA to $8 million. It then followed this up with a 53% increase in quarterly revenue during the third quarter. Management advised that this strong growth is being driven by the shift to online shopping and its new distribution centre. The latter is allowing the company to ship more books than ever.

Pointerra Ltd (ASX: 3DP)

A final small cap to watch is Pointerra. It is a technology company that provides a powerful cloud-based solution for managing, visualising, working in, analysing, using, and sharing massive 3D point clouds and datasets. Pointerra’s platform can extract vital information from the data that would otherwise take many hours to do. Management estimates that its market opportunity is currently worth an enormous $500 billion annually. While it might be best to take that estimate with a pinch of salt, it does demonstrate its material growth potential over the next decade and beyond.

More reading

• 2 exciting ASX tech shares that could be buys
• The 6-bagger ASX share that I now regret selling: fundie
• 3 outstanding small cap ASX shares to watch
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The post 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to watch in 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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ASX gold shares have finally been playing catch-up with the rest of the market and investors can thank cryptos like bitcoin for the outperformance.

Cryptocurrencies have been one of the drags on the gold price as some experts believe digital currencies are a good substitute for the yellow metal.

This is why the brightening outlook for gold coincided with the crash in the crypto market. The price of bitcoin and ether both tumbled by around 30% to 40% in a day, reported CNBC.

Gold rises as cryptos like bitcoin crashes

There are a few reasons for the sudden reversal in sentiment towards cryptos. Unfavourable tweets by Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) founder Elon Musk and warnings by China that it won’t accept digital tokens for payments were two big drivers.

Meanwhile, the gold price jumped to a more than four-month high when it hit around US$1,882 an ounce at the end of last week.

Gold has been rising steadily for most of this month.

ASX gold shares are shining bright

This helped major ASX gold shares, like the Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) share price, the Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) share price and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price outrun the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO).

While the big sell-off in cryptos won’t discourage the legion of fervent supporters, it only goes to show why digital tokens aren’t ready for prime time.

If anything, recent events show why cryptos are not a good replacement for gold – at least not yet.

Crypto fails test as a gold substitute

Investors buy gold for safety during times of fear. It has been trusted as a store of value for over 3,000 years.

The wide gyrations of cryptos undermines the belief that they can protect your wealth. This is particularly so if the asset class can be rocked (or rocketed) by a single tweet!

Cryptos hardly fit the definition of a safe haven.

Right investment, wrong reason

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of Ferrari-driving millennial millionaires thanks to the crypto craze, but they bought in to make big profit, not as a hedge.

The truth is, you don’t buy gold to become an overnight rich-lister. That’s not what investing in gold is all about.

This is a lesson many investors are about to learn, regardless of where cryptos trade next week or month.

Can ASX gold shares keep outperforming?

Another factor that is likely to drive investors away from cryptos and back to gold is waning risk appetite.

There is a clear trend showing capital flows are draining from more speculative assets, including high-flying tech shares.

For these reasons, we could see ASX gold shares continue to outperform in the short- to medium-term.

Beware making investment decisions that are based on the wrong reasons.

More reading

• These were the best performers on the ASX 200 last week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• ASX 200 shares cashing in on the rising gold price this week
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars
• 3 top-performing ASX shares this week

The post ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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There could be some good in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dividend shares that may be candidates for income.

Businesses that have grown to a certain large size have the potential to sustain a high dividend payout ratio and continue to keep growing earnings.

These two ASX 200 dividend income shares could be interesting candidates.

Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)

Magellan is predominately a funds management business. It has over $100 billion of funds under management and it’s rated as a buy by the broker Morgans with a price target of $58.26.

The company has a dividend policy of interim and final dividends being based on 90% to 95% of profit of the funds management business excluding crystallised performance fees. It also pays an annual performance fee dividend of 90% to 95% of net crystallised performance fees after tax.

Magellan makes a lot of profit from its funds management business. Higher funds under management (FUM) leads to higher management fees which largely falls to the net profit line.

In the FY21 half-year result, its management fees grew 8% to $309.4 million and the funds management business’ profit before tax and before performance fees increased 8% to $256.2 million. That helped the interim dividend increase by 5% to 97.1 cents per share.

The ASX 200 dividend share continues to see long-term growth of FUM – in April 2021, total FUM rose from $106 billion to $110.4 billion. It’s also making investments into private businesses that have long-term growth potential and can provide useful information to Magellan such as Barrenjoey and Guzman y Gomez.

Morgans thinks that Magellan is going to pay a FY21 dividend that amounts to a yield of 4.5% in FY21.

Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW)

This is a real estate investment trust (REIT), it’s one of the larger ones on the ASX with a market capitalisation of around $3 billion.   

Charter Hall Long WALE REIT is currently rated as a buy by Citi with a price target of $5.30. The aim of the ASX 200 dividend share is to have a portfolio of properties that are rented to high-quality tenants with long leases.

The REIT recently announced acquisitions for a total cost of $415.4 million. It’s buying the Services Australia building in Tuggeranong, ACT, for $153 million, the ATO building in Box Hill, Victoria, for $115 million, the Red Cross building in Alexandria, NSW, for $79.5 million and the ATO building in Albury, NSW, for $42.5 million.

It also settled the acquisition of a 100% interest in an Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD) anchored long weighted average lease expiry (WALE) convenience retail property in Redbank Plains, Queensland, for $25.4 million.

These acquisition reflect a passing yield of 5.2%, with a long WALE of 9.2 years and a weighted average revenue review (WARR) of 3.6% per annum. It increases the exposure to government tenants from 16% to 21%.

Management believe the acquisition supports the ASX 200 dividend share’s secure and growing income profile.

It now has 464 properties worth almost $5 billion with a 97.7% occupancy rate, a WALE of 13.8 years and a WARR of 2.3%.

The REIT aims to have a distribution payout of 100% of operating earnings per security (EPS). It’s expecting to generate 29.2 cents of EPS in FY21, translating into a yield of 6.1%. The property business also provided FY22 operating EPS guidance of growth of at least 2.75% compared to FY21. That suggests an FY22 yield of around 6.3%.

More reading

• Why the Charter Hall REIT (ASX:CLW) share price is frozen
• 2 ASX dividend shares to buy with yields above 5%
• Why is the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price up 4% today?
• 2 ASX 200 shares to buy for dividends
• ASX 200 rises, Macquarie falls, Magellan declines

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While investors will be very familiar with tech shares like Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), there are some quality options in the sector flying under the radar.

Two such ASX tech shares are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Hipages Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: HPG)

The first ASX tech share to take a look at is Hipages. It is a leading Australian-based online platform and software as a service (SaaS) provider that connects tradies with residential and commercial consumers.

Over three million Australians have used Hipages increasingly popular platform, providing work to over 34,000 trade businesses that are subscribed to the platform. In addition to this, the company’s Call of Service job management software improves tradies’ productivity by streamlining their workflow and taking away the stress of admin.

At present the company is capturing approximately 5% of total industry advertising spend, but has been tipped to grow its market share materially in the future. According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts see scope for Hipages to capture upwards of 40% to 60% in the future as the company builds out its ecosystem. 

In light of this, it will come as no surprise to learn that Goldman is very positive on the company. It recently reiterated its buy rating and $3.35 price target on its shares. This compares to the current Hipages share price of $2.43.

Life360 Inc (ASX: 360)

Another ASX tech share to look at is San Francisco-based app maker Life360.

The company’s app offer families a wide-range of safety solutions for the modern world. This includes real-time location sharing and notifications, driving safety features like Crash Detection and Roadside Assistance, and messaging. Life360 is ultimately on a mission to create tools that remove uncertainty from modern life.

These features appear to be resonating well with families, with Life360 recently revealing 28 million monthly active users.

Pleasingly, the company continues to add to its offering. In April, it announced the acquisition of Jiobit for US$37 million. Management notes that the acquisition of the wearable location device provider is supportive of its growth strategy and opens up cross-selling opportunities.

One broker that is particularly positive on the company is Credit Suisse. It currently has an outperform rating and $8.30 price target on its shares. This compares to the latest Life360 share price of $5.45.

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There are some ASX dividend shares that might be worth looking into for income.

Businesses that are paying dividend yields that are much higher than what investors might be able to get out of a bank account might seem attractive.

These two could be interesting ideas for income:

Centuria Industrial REIT (ASX: CIP)

This real estate investment trust (REIT) is Australia’s largest domestic pure play industrial option.

It’s currently rated as a buy by the broker Morgan Stanley with a price target of $3.77.  

Centuria Industrial REIT now has a portfolio of 61 investment properties worth more than $2.6 billion with a weighted average capitalisation rate (WACR) of 4.95%, an occupancy rate of 98.8% and an overall weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 9.7 years as at 31 March 2021.

One example of the type of tenant that the ASX dividend share has is Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) which is leasing the Warnervale Distribution Centre in NSW. It recently doubled this lease to 10.2 years. The ASX dividend share said that this demonstrated tenant demand for strategic food logistics assets.

Centuria Industrial REIT fund manager Jesse Curtis said:

We are seeing growing market demand for leasing of food logistics assets reflecting increasing consumer demand for fresh food and rise of food-related e-commerce. This is a structural trend we identified when we took over management of CIP in 2017 and have since focused on leveraging in this area, by adding strategic food-related assets to our portfolio and securing long-term leases with blue chip tenants.

Our Warnervale lease extension is a testament to this strategy. It builds on CIP’s acquisition of $214 million worth of cold storage assets and $236 million of food manufacturing facilities since FY19 – all of which are delivering significant value and attractive returns for CIP unitholders.

Morgan Stanley thinks that Centuria Industrial REIT will pay a FY21 distribution of 17 cents per unit, translating to a yield of 4.9% from the ASX dividend share.

Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)

Accent is a large Australian retailer of shoes. It sells a number of different brands including CAT, Dr Martens, Platypus, Skechers, Vans, Timberland and The Athlete’s Foot. The Glue Store is the latest business to be added to the portfolio.

The business is heavily focused on growing its store network – where it is seeing solid same store sales growth – as well as its digital presence. Online shopping is booming and Accent Group is taking advantage of that. The HY21 result saw digital sales grow 110% to $108.1 million, representing 22.3% of sales.

HOKA ONE ONE is one of the latest brands that Accent has been appointed to be the exclusive distributor in Australia for an initial 3-year term. Accent said that it’s one of the fastest growing performance brands globally.

In the first eight weeks of the second half of FY21, the ASX dividend share’s like for like retail sales were up 10.7% and digital sales were above 65.4%.

It has a goal of at least 10% compound earnings per share (EPS) growth. Citi has a price target on Accent of $3.10 and thinks the FY21 grossed-up dividend yield will amount to 6.5%.

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