The ASX has been flat today, although finished the day slightly down.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell just 1.60 points today to 6,789.90. Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.54% but is down 8.79% for the last year to date.
Bottom-performing stocks in this index were EML Payments Ltd down 22.18% and Appen Ltd down 14.57%.
It was travel stocks that kept the ASX steady.
Never mind the problems at Heathrow. Lost luggage. Delayed flights. Hours of queuing and COVID ravaged cruises. People just want to get away from the city they’ve been trapped in for the past few years.
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd reported today and said losses were smaller than expected. That was enough to raise the share price 3.1% for the day. The company upgraded its guidance and expects to post an underlying loss of around $185 million for the year to June 30 compared to a previous forecast of an underlying loss of between $195 million and $225 million for the 2022 financial year.
Shares in Flight Centre were up 5.3% to $18.02 at 11am AEST, making it the best performing company on the S&P/ASX 200 index. Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX:CTD) was the best performing travel stock, up 4.7% to $19.10 before retracing to 3.5% and $18.80. Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN) Ltd and Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) were up 1.6% and 1.4% respectively.
“After an incredibly challenging period, we were pleased to achieve our goal of returning to monthly underlying EBITDA profitability in both the corporate and leisure sectors late in the year,” the group’s managing director Graham Turner said.
“The scale of our recovery exceeded our initial expectations and meant that we should now exceed our preliminary FY22 result target, with early trading results pointing to a breakeven second half result and a healthy fourth quarter profit (underlying EBITDA).”
In the news today
Petrol prices to fall further
You may have seen some relief at your local petrol bowser recently, with the cost of fuel falling back below $2. While there is still the re-entry of the excise tax to consider when it reappears in September, Commsec believes petrol prices will fall further.
The fall has come due to downward pressure on crude oil.
Data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum shows the national average unleaded petrol price fell by 11.2 cents to 192.9 cents a litre last week. It fell 8 cents the previous week. The wholesale price fell by 9.2 cents a litre after falling by 14.3 cents the previous week.
Depending on where the cycle is, we could see further decreases or only minor increase compared with recent experience.
Commsec chief economist Craig James said, "Pump prices have fallen for 35 straight days in both Sydney and Brisbane. While that is a long period compared with previous cycles, pump prices are still near $1.80 a litre when the wholesale price is $1.61.
"Based on ‘normal’ gross retail margins CommSec would expect the national average price to ease to near $1.75 a litre in the next fortnight."
Atlassian (NASDAQ:TEAM) founders new energy raid
While we all know about Grok Ventures’ takeover bid of AGL Energy (ASX:AGK) Ltd, the other Atlassian billionaire couple Scott Farquhar and wife Kim Jackson have made a play for their own energy vehicle.
Following in the footsteps of Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes, Farquhar and Jackson have launched a bid for renewable infrastructure group Genex Power.
The latter pair’s investment vehicle Skip Capital has teamed up with US-based private equity firm Stonepeak in a bid worth over $500 million ($318 million equity plus debt).
Genex listed on the ASX in 2015. It operates a 50 megawatt solar project, is developing a 250MW pumped hydro storage project – to be located in a former gold mine – and owns a second solar project in NSW, and a battery project in central Queensland set to start operating in the middle of CY23.
The stock trades around 20 cents and the company is constantly capital raising, having raised close top $190 million in four raisings in three years.
Skip already holds a 10% stake in Genex but Jackson wants to go bigger believing the company can double its renewable energy capacity with the help of private equity.
Jackson says the consortium sees "strong promise in Genex’s portfolio and together the Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund and Stonepeak bring the experience and insight required to allow Genex to play a substantially larger role in Australia’s energy transition".
Stonepeak sees the potential takeover as a natural fit.
"We are thematic, long-term investors, focusing on sectors and businesses that have durable tailwinds and provide essential services to their communities, particularly across the energy value chain,” Stonepeak senior managing director Darren Keogh said.
"In our view, Stonepeak and the Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund are well positioned to support Genex’s next phase of growth,” he said.
Genex shares surged 48.2% on the news and finished the day 44.4% higher.
Here’s a look at some of the top small cap stories of the day.
Amplia Therapeutics has abstract accepted for major pancreatic cancer conference
Amplia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ATX) has had an abstract describing its ACCENT clinical trial of AMP945 in first-line patients with advanced pancreatic cancer accepted for presentation at a major pancreatic cancer conference in the US.
Jindalee Resources higher as diamond drill spins in new McDermitt Lithium Project program
Jindalee Resources Ltd (ASX:JRL)’s program of 28 holes is designed to infill and extend the 13.3 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent mineral resource estimate.
Pantoro fields golden results at Green Lantern in advance of resource update
“The ongoing results from Green Lantern demonstrate the potential of the Scotia Mining Centre generally, and we look forward to releasing an updated mineral resource and ore reserve shortly," Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR) MD Paul Cmrlec said.
Krakatoa Resources prepares for maiden rare earth resource estimate at Mt Clere following drilling campaign
“Our focus is now to deliver a maiden JORC-compliant resource as well as gaining further understanding into the amenability of the REE’s extraction processes to obtain a high-level understanding of the project’s potential," Krakatoa Resources Ltd (ASX:KTA)’s CEO Mark Major said.
Chimeric Therapeutics appoints cell therapy industry leader as chief medical officer
Chimeric Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:CHM) has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of cell therapy industry leader Dr Jason B. Litten as chief medical officer (CMO).
On your six
Solid progress is being made on the electric vehicle front, with battery technology improving by the day, but we’re still anxious to go far.
Plug-in hybrids drive transition to electric vehicles as range anxiety slows adoption
Plug-in hybrids offer a pure-electric range for shorter distances and can travel long distances using a petrol or diesel-powered internal combustion engine.
The one for good luck
Tesla continues to cash in on carbon credits
Elon Musk’s US$750 billion electric vehicle company Tesla continues to earn vast profits on the carbon credit market, despite halving its sales in the latest quarter.