Tag: Motley Fool

AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) has highlighted its digital advantage in a recent presentation to investors.

AMP shares fell 1.46% today to trade at $1.01. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ) finished 0.01% in the red today.

Let’s take a look at what the company’s CEO is plugging today.

What is AMP saying?

AMP CEO Alexis George has touted the company’s digital presence in an Allan Gray Live investing webinar.

Speaking to investors on Tuesday, George said AMP has a plan to “launch a digital mortgage next week”.

She said:

We will launch a digital mortgage next week. Now yes, we used to partner and that’s brave.

But we did that in less than 100 days from concept to getting the fourth customer and that is what I want our bank to be — more agile, respond to what’s going on, and be brave about putting new initiatives out there.

George highlighted the company’s digital presence, saying “we are a digital bank, you know, we don’t have branches, we are a digital bank”. She said:

Are we mignon, yeah. We’re one point something percent market share of of mortgages, but we’re digital. We have a brand we have a consumer presence. And I think they’re really important.

In recent news, Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) has taken control of the AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund (AWOF). Investors voted to appoint Mirvac as the trustee of the $7.7 billion office fund.

This fund is made up of 11 major assets in Sydney and Melbourne, including Collins Place, Melbourne and the Quay Quarter, Sydney.

Mirvac is expected to take over in as the investment manager and property manager of these assets in October.

AMP share price snapshot

AMP shares have lost 6% in a year, while they have jumped 3% in the past month.

For comparison, the ASX 200 Financials Index is up 28% in the past year and 29% year to date.

AMP has a market capitalisation of nearly $3.3 billion based on the current share price.

The post Own AMP shares? CEO touts its ‘digital bank’ status in competitive landscape appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ‘CBA and Westpac are too big’: One fund manager’s take on the future of ASX 200 bank shares
• AMP share price in focus as Mirvac wins control of $7.7 billion office fund
• Why interest rates need to rise despite ASX carnage: economist
• Why did the AMP share price fall 13% in FY22?
• What dragged the AMP share price down 13% in June?

Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price has been rising over the past month. But could a stronger Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) derail its progress?

Over the past month, the NAB share price has risen by more than 12%. That’s strong progress, considering the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has only gone up by 3.3% in the last month.

In recent times, investors have been impressed by the progress that NAB’s relatively new leadership team, including CEO Ross McEwan, have made in turning the bank around.

For example, the NAB FY22 half-year result included cash earnings growth of 4.1% to $3.48 billion.

The CEO said that focused investment has been “key” to delivering strong momentum across the business.

But, banks are fighting each other for market share. There are the big four banks of NAB, ANZ, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). And there are other players like Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ), and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) that want to grow.

As such, an increase in market share for ANZ could mean a decrease in market share somewhere else. For starters, an acquisition of Suncorp’s banking operations would simply merge the market share of ANZ and Suncorp. But after that, could ANZ use its bigger size to compete more strongly with NAB and others to grow its market share?

ANZ kicks things up a notch

The ANZ CEO has said that the acquisition could mean it can “compete more effectively in Queensland”.

The Australian Financial Review also reported that CEO Shayne Elliot said:

This is a big step forward, but I don’t think moving from 13% to 15% market share somehow gives us some dominant position or some pricing power that we didn’t have before.

It’s a modest uplift, and we get to be a better competitor, with the really big players in the market who are people like CBA. Just as Suncorp probably feels dwarfed by ANZ, we feel dwarfed by CBA.

It’s worth noting that ANZ will become the third largest in terms of mortgages and retail deposits if its Suncorp deal goes ahead, jumping ahead of NAB. It will also add $47 billion of home loans for ANZ.

But, even before this deal, ANZ reported that it’s getting on a level playing field with the big four in loan processing times. Home buyers value being able to get faster loans through the system. In recent times, ANZ had seen longer processing times, a factor in its losing market share to other banks.

But in the trading update for the last quarter, released on the same day as the acquisition news, ANZ said:

Adding operational capacity and processing resilience in our Australian home loan business has helped deliver consistently faster turnaround times across all channels, and we are in line with major peers for our key customer segments. Lending volumes grew $2 billion (3% annualised) in the third quarter, with particularly strong growth in June. We remain on track to grow in line with the Australian major banks before the end of the financial year and are delivering growth with an eye to maintaining margin performance and credit quality.

A combination of a stronger national presence and better processing times could help ANZ capture more new loans, and slow down growth for NAB.

Foolish takeaway

The ANZ-Suncorp deal is not approved or done yet. There are many hurdles to pass, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ruling on competitive impacts in the sector.

But, if ANZ is successful, it could be a little harder for NAB and others to grow their loan books as much as they have done in recent history.

The post Is the NAB share price in danger from a resurgent ANZ? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Top broker gives its verdict on ANZ’s Suncorp Bank acquisition
• What might ANZ’s Suncorp deal mean for competition among ASX 200 banks?
• ‘CBA and Westpac are too big’: One fund manager’s take on the future of ASX 200 bank shares
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday

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 recommended Macquarie Group Limited and Westpac Banking Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Superannuation is one of the main ways that Australians save for retirement.

Employees receive superannuation guarantee contributions. Employers are now meant to contribute 10.5% of wages to an employee’s superannuation fund. Employees can also salary sacrifice more into their super fund.

Business owners can also make concessional contributions for themselves.

On top of that, people can add extra money into superannuation with non-concessional contributions.

When that money is in the superannuation fund, people can decide how they want that money to be invested such as ASX shares, international shares, cash and so on.

But, there’s a question of how much people actually need to build up their retirement nest egg to be able to retire. Is it $1 million? Maybe $500,000?

Every personal circumstance is different. Is that person renting, or do they perhaps own their home outright with no mortgage? Do they live with a spouse who also has a sizeable retirement account? And so on. This is the sort of thing that financial planners can help with.

But, personal finance expert Scott Pape (AKA the Barefoot Investor), has shared in his latest weekly newsletter what the required superannuation balances could be for retirement.

Required retirement balance

After sharing a humorous story about visiting a (wealthy) men’s group lunch and talking about retirement, Pape revealed research done by Super Consumers Australia, a partner of CHOICE, that uses Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) research on what retirees typically spend.

Super Consumers Australia suggest that, for a comfortable retirement, single people need $301,000 and couples need $402,000, assuming they don’t pay rent or a mortgage. These balances are based on singles spending $44,000 annually and for couples, it is based on spending of $64,000.

That’s a bit more than the median superannuation balance at retirement, according to the ABS, of $250,000 for men and $200,000 for women. But, it may be achievable for people with time.

For singles wanting to spend $55,000 a year, it was suggested they need $745,000, according to Super Consumers Australia. For couples wanting to spend $81,000 a year, they’d need around $1 million.

Pape suggests that people can get by with smaller retirement balances if they get the aged pension and do a bit of paid work.

Foolish takeaway

Of course, how much is contributed to superannuation is one part of the future retirement balance equation. There’s also a question of how much time is given to grow the balance, and the size of the returns, to build towards retirement.

Hopefully, our investment portfolios can deliver good investment returns partly thanks to the power of compounding.

The post How much superannuation do you really need in retirement? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ‘We have clearly seen the peak’: Sector veteran gives earnings season warning for ASX mining shares
• Which ASX rich listers have grown their fortunes over the past year?
• Own CSL shares? Here’s a look at the biotech’s balance sheet
• Down 40% in 2022: Is the Liontown share price a bargain buy?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The iron ore price dropped below the benchmark of US$100 per tonne over the past week. This is the first time it has dropped this low in 2022. It was last around this mark in November 2021.

Falling commodity prices and increasing costs for labour, fuel, and mining processing inputs are set to impact the earnings of ASX mining shares in the near future, one expert predicts.

‘Tough reporting season’ next month

According to reporting in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), veteran mining analyst Dr Glyn Lawcock has recommended that investors go underweight on ASX mining shares ahead of a “tough reporting season” which commences next month.

Lawcock’s warning comes amid a four-month fall in commodity prices including aluminium, gold, silver, copper, zinc, nickel, and iron ore.

Downgrades on ASX mining shares

Lawcock and his team at Barrenjoey have downgraded their 2023 earnings estimates for various ASX mining shares.

They’ve dropped their forecasts for 29Metals Ltd (ASX: 29M) and Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR) by more than 80%.

A similar downgrade has been applied to Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC).

The team also downgraded earnings estimates for South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) by 55%. Meantime, BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) have been downgraded by 20% and 10% respectively.

Lawcock said:

We have clearly seen the peak in this cycle, although I’d say coal and lithium are still in a boom at the moment.

We see iron ore prices lifting into the end of 2022 on China stimulus and expectations of a better 2023 given the disappointment of 2022 in China due to lockdowns.

Lawcock said this cycle was different because “we come into this downturn with low [product] inventory and not a lot of projects under construction”.

“We don’t come into this downturn with as much supply, so I don’t think we exacerbate the downside as much this time, and we are coming into a downturn with good balance sheets.”

Resources ‘stronger than ever’ after economic chaos

Regal Funds Management chief investment officer Phil King expects the US share market to bottom over the next month or two, according to another AFR article. He thinks it will finish the year higher.

King also thinks inflation has peaked, and the market is full of great buying opportunities. But he is concerned about the Chinese economy and the flow-on effect on the iron ore price.

King said:

It causes us genuine concern because it’s the Chinese property market that has been driving the Chinese economy, and the Chinese economy has been driving the world.

King thinks resources will come out on top once the economic chaos is over.

He said: ” … even though we might see a US recession and some weakness in demand, we think the resource sector will come out the other side stronger than ever.”

The companies behind the mega ASX mining shares are due to report soon.

BHP will release its full-year results on 16 August. Fortescue’s are scheduled for 29 August.

Rio reports on a different cycle and will present its half-year results on 27 July.

The post ‘We have clearly seen the peak’: Sector veteran gives earnings season warning for ASX mining shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• What’s the outlook for the iron ore price in 2023?
• ASX 200 midday update: BHP’s Q4 update, JB Hi-Fi delivers record result
• BHP share price climbs amid record year for iron ore
• Can the South32 share price bounce back in FY23?

Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in Alumina Ltd. and BHP Billiton Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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This year’s edition of Australia’s top 250 richest people saw a number of well-known wealthy individuals climb up the ladder.

Published by The Australian, the annual rich list tracks the fortunes of tech entrepreneurs along with mining and property magnates.

Below, we take a look at the names who’re hitting the charts and cementing their places as the country’s most wealthy businesspeople.

Who makes up Australia’s Top 5 Rich List?

The annual study, showing which Australians are making financial strides, tallied riches past the half a trillion dollar mark this year.

The average wealth of each person who made the cut stood at around $2.08 billion. The list included 131 billionaires.

Of the top 250 names, 30 were women and the average age of each individual was 65 years of age.

Here are the list’s top five:

For the third consecutive year, Gina Rinehart took the mantle with an estimated wealth of $32.64 billion. Her source of wealth came from iron ore mining alongside investments in agriculture (beef) and media. She is the founding member of Pilbara iron ore mine Roy Hill.

In second position, and not far behind, Andrew Forrest has acquired $31.77 billion through his holding in ASX-listed Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG).

Furthermore, Forrest also owns cattle stations in outback Australia which supplement his income.

Moving into third spot, up from fourth last year, Anthony Pratt (and family) has $27.77 billion. Regarded as one of Australia’s most generous businessmen, Pratt made his wealth from Visy Industries – a packaging, paper, and resource recovery company that employs more than 7,000 people worldwide.

Slipping in to fourth is Mike Cannon-Brookes who is co-founder and co-CEO of United States-based software giant Atlassian. His wealth came to $26.2 billion. Cannon-Brookes is often referred to as the ‘accidental billionaire’ given how he aimed to earn a mere $48,500 per year.

And, lastly, at number five, Cannon-Brooke’s business partner Scott Farquhar is the other co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian. His wealth is projected to be $25.99 billion.

The post Which ASX rich listers have grown their fortunes over the past year? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• What’s the outlook for the iron ore price in 2023?
• Down 12% in a month, is the Fortescue share price a buy?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• Here’s why the Fortescue share price is falling 6% into the dirt today
• These ASX 200 mining shares are getting buried. What’s happening?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Atlassian. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Shares in biotech giant CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) have rerated in FY23. In fact, they have now pushed just over 8% into the green since the start of the month.

That’s ahead of the 6% return for the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Index (ASX: XHJ) over the same period.

CSL shares finished the session on Tuesday at $290.66 — down 2.02% for the day.

Following the company’s announcement of its acquisition of Vifor Pharma AG last year, current global supply chain headwinds, and (hopefully) a wind back in global COVID-19 cases, let’s take a look at CSL’s financial position and the book value of CSL shares.

CSL balance sheet

From its semi-annual report in December 2021, CSL reported cash & equivalents of $8.7 billion. Notably, some of this will have been allocated to the acquisition.

It had total assets of more than $32 billion, or around $24 billion minus the cash and marketable securities.

On this amount, it held debt of around $7.6 billion. The interest on this debt was covered more than 32 times from operating income.

This gives CSL a total debt ratio of around 24%. Its total capital base is financed at around 28% with debt.

Meanwhile, short-term obligations are covered 5 times from liquid assets, and around 3.4 times when separating CSL’s inventory. This means it should meet its financial obligations as they come due.

As such, it had around $13.6 billion in working capital as at December 2021. That’s up from $5.7 billion in the prior half.

Book value of CSL shares

With this, shareholders held equity of more than $19.3 billion in the biotech giant. That provides a book value per share of $32.

This year to date, CSL shares have fallen 1.8% but are up 1.46% over the past 12 months.

The post Own CSL shares? Here’s a look at the biotech’s balance sheet appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 2 top ASX 200 shares brokers rate as buys
• Here’s how much $20k invested in these ASX shares 10 years ago is worth today
• CSL shares ‘well-positioned to deliver double-digit earnings growth’: expert
• Could FY23 be a good year for the CSL share price?
• 3 ASX shares to buy in a sector suddenly soaring this month: expert

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 positions in and has recommended CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR) share price was out of form on Tuesday.

The lithium developer’s shares ended the day 2% lower at $1.01.

This means the Liontown share price has now lost 40% of its value in 2022.

Is the Liontown share price in the buy zone?

According to a recent note out of Bell Potter, its analysts believe the weakness in the Liontown share price is a buying opportunity.

Its analysts currently have a speculative buy rating and $2.87 price target on the company’s shares.

Based on where its shares currently trade, this implies potential upside of ~180% for investors over the next 12 months.

What did the broker say?

Bell Potter notes that Liontown has approved the development of its Kathleen Valley Lithium Project in Western Australia.

This follows a major deal with auto giant Ford for both offtake and financing and means the tier-1 project is now fully funded.

Combined with other offtake agreements, including one with Tesla, the broker is very positive on Liontown’s outlook.

It commented:

LTR has announced a Final Investment Decision (FID) for its flagship hard-rock lithium project in Western Australia’s northern goldfields, Kathleen Valley. The FID coincides with announcing a $300m debt finance facility with Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and a further 150ktpa spodumene (SC6) binding offtake agreement.

LTR has provided updated Kathleen Valley capital estimates of now $545m (previously $473m) and an estimate of working capital requirements of $93m. With the Ford debt facility and existing cash ($466m at 31 March 2022), Kathleen Valley is now fully funded. Further supporting the project, LTR has full-form binding offtake agreements covering over 80% of production in the first five years with LG Energy Solution, Tesla and Ford.

The post Down 40% in 2022: Is the Liontown share price a bargain buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• What’s the outlook for the Liontown Resources share price in FY23?
• Why are these ASX 200 lithium shares tumbling today?
• ASX battery metals shares trying to power up after a horror June
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) slipped lower on Tuesday despite a strong performance by energy shares. The index closed down 0.56% at 6,649.60 points.

The market was dragged lower by the S&P/ASX Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ). The tech sector dumped close to 3% following a dire Monday on Wall Street.

The NASDAQ Composite dipped 0.8% overnight while the S&P 500 slumped 0.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell around 0.7%.

On the other end of the spectrum, the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) gained 2.45% today, likely on the back of surging oil prices.

The price of Brent crude oil lifted 5.1% overnight to reach US$106.27 a barrel and the US Nymex crude price rose 5.1% to US$102.60 a barrel.

Come the end of Tuesday’s trade, only two of the ASX 200’s 11 sectors were in the green.

So, which ASX shares managed to defy the market’s downturn to scrape together the biggest gains today? Let’s take a look.

Top 10 ASX shares countdown

The top performing shares of the ASX’s 200 biggest companies by market capitalisation may not come as a surprise on Tuesday.

The market was led by ASX 200 energy giant Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC). Find out what the coal producer has been up to lately here.

Meanwhile, Pendal Group Ltd (ASX: PDL) outperformed the market despite spending much of today’s session frozen. The stock was put in the freezer this morning as the company prepared to announce it’s in discussions with Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) regarding a potential transaction.  

Today’s biggest gains were made by these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)	$6.75	4.66%
Pendal Group Ltd (ASX: PDL)	$4.29	4.38%
New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC)	$4.47	3.95%
Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU)	$1.6575	3.59%
Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS)	$32.39	3.48%
Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX: IFL)	$2.76	3.37%
GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG)	$1.385	3.36%
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG)	$12.56	3.29%
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)	$1.7625	2.77%
Nickel Industries Ltd (ASX: NIC)	$0.9375	2.46%

Data as at 3:59pm AEST.

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.

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More reading

• ‘CBA and Westpac are too big’: One fund manager’s take on the future of ASX 200 bank shares
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• Here’s a look at what might happen to Woolworths shares in FY2023
• Why are Pendal shares in a trading halt?
• These ASX 200 coal shares are smashing 10-year highs on Tuesday

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is up 3% over the past 24 hours, currently trading for US$22,024 (AU$32,123).

The latest gains put the world’s top token by market cap up 10% since this time last week and at the highest level in a month.

Though, as you’d expect with cryptos, the gains haven’t come in any kind of straight line. The Bitcoin price traded as low as US$19,000 and as high as US$22,795 over the week, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

While the past week’s gains will certainly be welcomed by crypto investors, a handful of companies have ridden the token’s uptick to far greater heights.

Making hay from the Bitcoin price upturn

Not unlike gold miners, Bitcoin miners are leveraged to the price of the virtual tokens they earn as rewards for securing the blockchain.

And with retail investors closely following the sector, the miners have been subject to some outsized price swings as the Bitcoin price rises and falls.

Take Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT), for example. The Bitcoin mining company gained 12% in yesterday’s trade (overnight Aussie time) and is now up 30% since this time last week.

Fellow crypto miner Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) had an even better day on Monday, closing up 21%. That puts the Marathon Digital share price up 29% since last Tuesday.

You’ll find a similar story playing out with most of the big crypto miners.

Mind you, though, that despite the past week’s upturn, the Bitcoin price remains down 54% since 1 January.

As for the miners, the Riot Blockchain share price is down 73% year-to-date, while the Marathon Digital share price is down 70%.

Resilient and perhaps signs of early decoupling?

Following last week’s release of sizzling hot inflation figures out of the United States, many analysts had forecast a tough few days for the Bitcoin price.

We know now that didn’t transpire.

Commenting on the token’s resilience in the wake of the inflation data, GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou said (courtesy of Bloomberg), “When the market starts reacting positively to negative news, this is a signal that a local bottom could be in for now, as fear may have caused the news to be priced in.”

eToro’s market analyst and crypto expert Simon Peters added that the relative strength of the Bitcoin price and most top cryptos over the past week could be the vanguard of a potential decoupling from equity market moves.

“The events of the past few days have shown crypto assets moving above the gain lines of equities, with major indices relatively flat,” Peters said. “While not necessarily showing a decoupling of recent performance mirroring, divergence over a longer time frame could mark a significant shift.”

The post These are the stocks making hay from the Bitcoin price upturn appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) share price closed well in the red on Tuesday amid a rough day for ASX tech shares.

At market close , Xero shares finished at $83.00 each, a 5.71% fall. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished 0.56% lower today.

So why did Xero have such a tough day on the market today?

Xero shares close lower

Xero shares struggled today but they were not alone. The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) also closed 2.2% in the red.

Other ASX tech shares that took a hit included Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1), down 4.29%, and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC), down 4.91%. Meantime, Altium Ltd (ASX: ALU) shares fell 1.09% while Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) descended 2.93%.

Xero is a New Zealand technology company with a global presence providing accounting software to small and medium-sized businesses.

Today’s fall follows a tough night on US markets. The technology-heavy NASDAQ fell 1.46% on Monday’s trade, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.84%. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares dropped on the back of a Reuters report that the tech giant plans to slow hiring and spending next year.

Nonetheless, Citi has a buy rating on Xero’s shares with a $108 price target. Citi recently said:

We see Xero’s decision to increase prices in ANZ and UK as an indication of the company’s confidence in its position in its core markets.

Goldman Sachs also has a buy rating on the company’s shares with a $113 price target.

Share price snapshot

Xero shares have declined 40% in the past year while they have fallen nearly 42% year to date.

In the past week, the company’s share price has dropped 1.5% although it’s gained nearly 13% in a month.

For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has slid about 9% in the past year.

Xero has a market capitalisation of about $12.4 billion based on today’s share price.

The post Why did the Xero share price have such a lousy session today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why cheap hamburgers could give beginner ASX share investors food for thought
• Experts name 2 blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy
• What are brokers saying about the Xero share price?
• Broker names 2 ASX tech shares to buy in July
• ASX 200 midday update: ANZ confirms MYOB talks, energy shares fall

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Altium, Block, Inc., Goldman Sachs, MEGAPORT FPO, WiseTech Global, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc., WiseTech Global, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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