Consumer trust isn’t something to be taken for granted, but reports from the UK, US and here at home are all pointing towards an uplift in trust levels around financial advice, which can only be a welcome development.
There are significant tailwinds behind the financial advice industry at the moment, but some major obstacles are still preventing advice practices from taking advantage of surging demand according to a new study from CFS.
Mondayitis for Australian market
Shares posted their fourth straight days of losses on Monday, as investors were unnerved by a failed military uprising in Russia over the weekend, which had all sorts of worrying geo-political, macro-economic and energy-market implications.
The S&P/ASX 200 lost 20.5 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7078.7 points, for its lowest close in nearly three months. The broader All Ordinaries index dropped 21.5 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7,264.10.
The big financials were under pressure, with Commonwealth Bank dropping 58 cents, or 0.6 per cent; National Australia Bank down 21 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $25.57; Westpac losing 7 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $20.68; and ANZ giving up 5 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $22.77
The materials sector did not fare much better, with market cap leader BHP losing 15 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $44.45; Rio Tinto retreating 39 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $112.74; and Fortescue Metals weakening 7 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $21.34.
In gold, Capricorn Metals surged 20 cents, or 4.9 per cent, to $4.25; Ramelius Resources was also up 4.9 per cent, or 6 cents, to $1.29; Silver Lake Resources gained 4 cents, or 4.3 per cent, to 97 cents; Evolution Mining added 5 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $3.35; Newcrest Mining gained 32 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $26.20; and Northern Star was up 25 cents, or 2 per cent.
In the lithium space, producer Allkem slipped 14 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $15.71; fellow producer Pilbara Minerals eased 7 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $4.83; IGO, which mines nickel and lithium, lost 39 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to $14.67; and Mineral Resources, which produces iron ore as well as lithium, slumped $2.54, or 3.5 per cent, to $69.42.
In coal, Whitehaven Coal walked back 10 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $6.56; New Hope Corporation lost 16 cents, or 3.2 per cent, to $4.89; Yancoal Australia gained 4 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $4.42; and Stanmore Resources softened 7 cents, or 2.7 per cent, to $2.56.
In energy, Woodside Energy added 3 cents, to $33.77; Santos advanced 2 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $7.32; and Brazilian-based producer Karoon Energy retreated 1 cent, to $1.945.
Copper heavyweight Sandfire Resources eased 2 cents to $5.93, and rare earths producer Lynas Rare Earths fell 17 cents, or 2.4 per cent, to $6.98.
Silk Laser gets botox injection
On the industrial side, cosmetics group Silk Laser, which runs the country’s largest network of laser hair removal and botox clinics, jumped 50 cents, or 17.7 per cent, to $3.32 after the Wesfarmers-owned Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), owner of the Priceline pharmacy chain, increased its takeover offer for Silk Laser to $3.35 a share in cash, enough to gain the backing of the target’s board.
Back in April, API offered $3.15 a share for Silk, but that was gazumped by Hong Kong company EC Healthcare, which came in with a $3.35 counter-bid.
Childcare provider G8 Education advanced 3 per cent, or 3 per cent, to $1.02, after saying that fees would increase an average of 3.88 per cent across its 430 centres, which trade under brands including Pelican Childcare and Kinder Haven.
IGA supermarkets supplier Metcash posted an underlying profit after tax up 4.6 per cent to $307.5 million for financial-year 2023, and lifted its fully franked dividend by 4.7 per cent, enough to produce a 4.7 per cent rise in the shares, up 17 cents to $3.76.
Elsewhere, Tasmanian whisky distiller Lark Distilling had a shocker, downgrading its sales expectations to $7.4 million for the six months to June 30, which saw the shares plunge 26.5 cents, or 16.3 per cent, to $1.36.
US markets moribund
In the US, markets largely marked time as investors await economic data in the run-up to month-end and quarter-end. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 12.72 points, to end at 33,714.71; while the broader S&P 500 index slid 19.51 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4,328.82, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index erased 156.74 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 13,335.78. European markets closed slightly lower.
On the bond market, the US 10-year yield softened 1.7 basis points to 3.724 per cent, while the 2-year yield eased a barely perceptible 0.8 of a basis point, to 4.746 per cent.
Gold retraced 30 cents to US$1,934 an ounce, while the global benchmark Brent crude oil grade gained 33 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to US$74.18 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude added 9 cents, to US$69.46 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying 66.73 US cents this morning, barely changed from 66.74 US cents at the local ASX close on Monday.
