Between the Bells

The US market was closed on Monday for the labour day holiday.

Over in Europe, markets closed lower in the region on Monday with the STOXX600 closing flat, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.1%, the French CAC lost 0.24% and in the UK the FTSE100 lost 0.16%. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said it will be critical for central banks to pin their inflation targets at a period where fluctuations in the likes of energy prices and geopolitical activity are factored in, according to Reuters.

Germany’s trade data released on Monday showed a 0.9% month-on-month decline in exports in July while imports rose 1.4%, leading to a decline in Germany’s trade surplus to 15.9 billion euros from 18.7bn euros in June and well below the consensus forecast of a slight dip to 18 billion euros.

Locally, the ASX started the week in positive territory with the key index closing the first trading session of the week up 0.56%, continuing the momentum from last week’s 2.29% rise.

Yesterday, the key index rally was fuelled by materials stocks rising almost 2% amid optimism of further stimulus out of China increasing demand outlook for iron ore. Energy stocks also lifted to start the week in the green as the price of oil trades 6.57% higher over the last week amid fears of possible production cuts from Moscow.

The story of the local session yesterday was lithium miner Liontown Resources receiving an upgraded takeover bid from US chemicals giant, Albermarle, valuing Liontown at $6.6bn. The initial takeover offer of $2.50/share was rejected on the grounds of value however the Liontown board is reportedly considering the revised $3/share offer and has granted Albermarle a ‘limited period of exclusive due diligence’. Following the offer news, Liontown shares traded 9.5% higher around $2.87/share.

On the other end of the market, Sky City tumbled 15% yesterday after the casino and entertainment company revealed its operating licence may be suspended in New Zealand for 10 days by New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs for failure to comply with the responsible gaming program.

 As we near the end of reporting season, 385 companies have reported with 28.8% beating estimates, 43% meeting estimates and 27.8% missing estimates. 

 What to watch today:

• Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are expecting the local index to open 0.26% lower on Tuesday.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.44% higher at US$85.93/barrel, gold is flat at US$1938.56/ounce and iron ore is down 0.43% at US$117/tonne.
• Stocks trading ex-dividend today include Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Yancoal (ASX:YAL), Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), Codan Limited (ASX:CDA), Corporate Travel Management (ASX:CTD), Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CUV)and Origin Energy (ASX:ORG). 

 Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has downgraded Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) to a hold from a buy and maintain a 12-month price target of $3.85 on the lithium miner following the receipt of an upgraded takeover bid from Albermarle of $3/share. Albermarle has declared this is its best and final offer unless a superior proposal is received. The Liontown board has granted Albermarle a limited period of exclusive due diligence and according to Bell Potter, intends to unanimously recommend the proposal in the absence of a superior offer and subject to an independent expert opinion.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 15-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $1.66 to the range of $1.76-$1.78 according to standard principles of technical analysis.

Favourable jobs data out in the US boosted investor sentiment on Friday to close out a winning week on Wall Street. The Dow Jones added 0.3% on Friday while the S&P500 rose 0.18% and the Nasdaq fell 0.02%. For the week though the Dow and Nasdaq each added 1.4% and 3.3% respectively while the S&P500 rose 2.5%.

Non-farm payrolls data out in the US on Friday showed the unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.8% in August, well above economists’ expectations of a hold at 3.5%. The rise in unemployment provides further signal that the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes are proving effective in cooling the tight labour market.

Following recent favourable data being released, the market has factored in a 93% chance the fed will hold interest rates at the next meeting, according to CNBC.

Dell Technologies soared 21% on Friday after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings in the latest quarterly results update.

Over in Europe, it was a mixed session on Friday as key US data and a lag in automaker stocks weighed on investor sentiment in the region. Auto stocks fell 2.6% on Friday after a survey out of Germany showed a deterioration in sentiment among automakers with almost half saying lack of orders is impeding production. The STOXX600 closed flat, Germany’s DAX fell 0.7%, the French CAC lost 0.27%, and in the UK, the FTSE100 rose 0.34%.

Locally, the ASX200 fell 0.37% on Friday, weighed down by the healthcare sector falling 1.42% while utilities stocks lost just shy of 1%. Qantas shares have been heavily sold off in recent sessions as the national carrier is facing a record corporate penalty of $600m from the consumer watchdog for allegations that Qantas was selling tickets for around 8000 allegedly already cancelled flights in May and June 2022.  This comes alongside the airline facing scrutiny for making it difficult for customers to access and use flight credits, of $570m in total value, for flights cancelled during the COVID-19 period.

What to watch today: 

• Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia, the SPI futures are expecting the local market to open 0.43% higher ahead of a big week on the economic front this week including the RBA interest rate decision tomorrow, GDP Growth Rate data out tomorrow and trade balance out later in the week.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.57% higher at US$86.04/barrel, gold is flat at US$1939/ounce and iron ore is down 0.43% at US$117/tonne.
• AU$1.00 is buying 65 cents, 94.28 Japanese Yen, 51.24 British Pence and NZ$1.09.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has downgraded Resimac Group (ASX:RMC) from a Buy to a Hold and slightly decreased the price target from $1.12 to $1.09 on the back of the company releasing mixed FY23 results including home loan book shrinking 14% to $13.1bn while net interest income decreased to $222.5m from $238.1m and Bell Potter’s analyst expects the home loan book to decline 4% in FY24 before returning to growth in FY25.
• And Bell Potter has decreased the price target on XTEK (ASX:XTE) from 80cps to 70cps and maintain a buy rating on the defence manufacturer following the release of the company’s FY23 results that beat both guidance and Bell Potter estimates. The downgrade in price target was due to Bell Potter having lack of visibility over future revenue which is weighing on the share price, however this is not uncommon in the defence industry. Bell Potter is awaiting updates on the referenced multiple large ballistic orders and multi-year new SUAS Support Contract shortly.

As we near the end of Reporting Season, we’ve seen 348 companies report their earnings. 106 have beat expectations, 146 met expectations, while 96 fell short of expectations.

This week, the Australian share market advanced 2.67% this week (Mon – Thurs), in a strong week of trading. All but the energy sector, posted notable gains. The materials sector had the biggest rally, with the sector rising 3.66%, followed by the healthcare sector adding 3.36% and consumer discretionary rising 3.18%.

In this week's wrap, Grady covers:

• (0:51) How City Chic (ASX:CCX) fell out of favour with investors
• (1:53) The positive run for travel stocks, including Flight Centre (ASX:FLT)
• (3:09) What’s causing Brambles’ (ASX:BXB) share price movements
• (4:34) The key takeaways from Reporting Season this week
• (5:30) Best performing stocks in the ASX200
• (6:15) The most traded stocks & ETFs by Bell Direct clients
• (6:45) Five economic news items to watch out for

Read the article transcript here.

US equities closed mixed overnight ahead of the August payrolls report, closing out August with losses for all three benchmarks. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones closed the session in the red, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was in the green. For the month of August however, the Nasdaq is down 2.17%, the Dow dropped 2.36% and the S&P500 down 1.77%.

European stocks were also lower, following the release of euro zone inflation data, which remained unchanged from July at 5.3%.

What to watch today: 

• The Australian market is set to open lower this morning, with the SPI futures suggesting a drop of 0.52% at the open. 
• In commodities, 
  • Crude oil is trading 2.4% higher, advancing for the sixth straight session and nearing levels last seen in November 2022, driven by expectations of tight supplies. Recent PMI data has also showed that China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the fifth consecutive month, which increases expectations that OPEC+ nations will extend output cuts. So, keep watch of ASX energy producers today. 
  • Gold is slightly lower, after strengthening above US$1,940 an ounce, following weather-than-anticipated US economic data, as well as a lower US dollar and Treasury yields. 
  • And iron ore is in the green, remaining close to the one-month higher of US$117.50, as the market bets on stronger demand from steel producers. So, iron ore miners will also be on watch today, including Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG), Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) or Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN). 
• And there is a long list of companies set to go ex-dividend today, which often sees share prices fall, as investors take their profits. Some include Ampol (ASX:ALD), Eagers Automotive (ASX:APE), Coles (ASX:COL) and Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR). 

Trading Ideas: 

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on PointsBet Holdings (ASX:PBH), after the corporate bookmaker reporting FY23 results in line with Bell Potter’s expectations. They have lowered their valuation of the Australian business from $180 to $150 million due to a reduction in their forecast FY24 EBITDA from $20 to $15 million. This has lowered their 12-month price target by 5% to $2.10. At PBH’s current share price of $1.62, this implies 29.2% share price growth in a year. 
• And Trading Central have identified a bearish signal in PM Capital Global Opportunities Fund (ASX:PGF), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $1.89 to the range of $1.78 to $1.80 over 25 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis. 

US equities advanced on Wednesday as investors digested the release of fresh economic data. Annual GDP growth in the US was downwardly revised on Wednesday from the previously forecast 2.4% to 2.1% growth. This came alongside US payrolls data showing private employers added 177,000 jobs in August which was below the Dow Jones estimate of 200,000, but adds a further sign of the U.S. economy doing it tough in the high interest rate environment.

The S&P500 advanced 0.38% in its fourth straight winning session, the Nasdaq rose 0.54% and the Dow Jones added 0.11%. Tech stocks bolstered the gains on Wednesday after chipmaker and 2023 market darling Nvidia announced an expansion of its partnership with Google.

Over in Europe, markets closed mostly marginally lower on Wednesday as investors responded to the release of economic data out of Spain and Germany. Spain reported flash inflation rate data rose 2.6% YoY in August which was in line with expectations, while Germany reported a 13.2% drop in imports in the year to July, the sharpest drop since 1987. The STOXX600 fell 0.2%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.24%, the French CAC fell 0.12%, and in the UK, the FTSE100 added 0.12%.

The local market closed 1.21% higher on Wednesday as investor sentiment was boosted by Australia’s CPI indicator data cooling to growth of 4.9% in the 12-months to July. Industrials and healthcare stocks posted the biggest gains on Wednesday, while Real Estate stocks also rose 1.31% on the hopes of fewer or no further interest rate hikes in Australia as inflation continues to cool.

Australia’s monthly Consumer Price Index indicator rose by 4.9% in the year to July from a 5.4% rise in June and below market expectations of a 5.2% rise last month. Although it is still above the RBA’s target range of 2-3%, it is showing strong signs of cooling which provides support for the RBA to ease its rate hike stance.

Plus-size fashion retailer City chic tumbled 4.4% on Wednesday after posting a 17.2% slide in sales over FY23, while Brambles rose 7.1% after the supply chain solutions specialist reported a 10% rise in revenue, a 19% increase in profit after tax and a 15% lift in the company’s dividend to 26.25UScps.

Regional Express REX released FY23 results yesterday which sent the share price down nearly 3% despite the company reporting a statutory profit after tax of $14.4m, compared to a loss of $46.1m in the PCP. The result was boosted by a $44.5m contribution from REX’s 50% acquisition of National Jet Express during the year.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia the ASX is set to open Thursday’s session up 0.06%.
• On the commodities front this morning oil is up 0.6% at US$81.63/barrel, gold is up 0.36% at US$1944/ounce, and iron ore is flat at US$115.50/tonne.
• AU$1.00 is buying US$0.65, 94.61 Japanese Yen, 50.97 British Pence and NZ$1.09.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has increased the rating on Paragon Care (ASX:PGC) from a hold to a buy and maintain a 26 cents per share price target on the healthcare equipment, devices and consumables provider following the release of the company’s FY23 results that included revenue up 24% to $307.6m, EBITDA margin up 12.5% driven mainly by acquisitions, and reported NPAT increased 89% to $13.6m. Revenue from the devices business increased 14% despite headwinds in reimbursements paid by the prosthesis list. Bell Potter upgraded the company to a buy as it expects further organic growth in FY24 and acceleration of growth in FY25.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 30-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $0.69 to the range of $0.91 to $0.97 according to standard principles of technical analysis.

Wall Street closed in the green on Tuesday as investors begin buying into the August dip, especially in the technology space. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.74% on Tuesday, in its best session since June, while the Dow Jones rose 0.85% and the S&P500 added 1.45%. 

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio fell 5.8% on Tuesday after posting a wider quarterly loss than expected. Best Buy shares rallied nearly 6% on Tuesday after the retailer’s second quarter results beat on both top and bottom lines.

In Europe, markets closed higher on Tuesday amid positive global momentum and as investors look ahead to a fresh round of economic data out later this week. The STOXX600 rose 1% on Tuesday, Germany’s DAX added 0.88%, the French CAC lifted 0.67% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 had the biggest rally of 1.72%.

The local market closed 0.71% higher on Tuesday driven by a 1.6% rally for materials stocks while the consumer discretionary sector rose 1.42%. Healthcare and technology stocks were the only two sectors to close yesterday’s session lower.

Sayona Mining soared over 26% on Tuesday as investors bought back into the lithium producer following a 30% drop on Monday after the shock departure of managing director and CEO, Brett Lynch.

Mineral Resources rose 8% on Tuesday after the mining giant released strong FY23 results including its full year dividends rising 90% on FY22 to $1.90/share. EML Payments also had a very strong day on Tuesday following the release of the payments company’s FY23 results. Despite the company reporting a net loss of $248.8m, revenue rose 9% to a record $254.2m which was above the company’s guidance range.

We are nearing the end of reporting season and as of yesterday, 272 companies have reported with 89 beating expectations, 103 falling in-line with expectations and 80 missing expectations. 38 companies have been upgraded by brokers and 36 have been downgraded. Some key trends we have seen this reporting season include exposure to China is hurting outlook for companies operating in this region, retailers who reduced inventory over the last financial year showed resilience in FY23, and healthcare valuations continue to decline amid slowing earnings growth outlook.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of the local trading session, the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open the midweek session up 0.66% on the back of the US rally overnight.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 1.26% higher at US$81.13/barrel, gold is up almost 1% at US$1936/ounce and iron ore is down 1.7% at US$115.50/tonne.
• AU$1.00 is buying US$0.65, 94.44 Japanese Yen, 50.97 British Pence and NZ1.09.

Trading Ideas

• Bell Potter has maintained a hold rating on LGI (ASX:LGI) and decreased the 12-month price target from $2.77 to $2.32 per share following the market leader in the recovery of biogas from landfills, FY23 results. While the company reported FY23 results largely in-line with Bell Potter estimates if not slightly ahead, the hold rating is maintained, and price target decreased based on commodity pricing updates and downward revisions to Bell Potter’s forecast biogas volume growth.
• Bell Potter has also maintained a buy rating on Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) and increased the price target on the rare earths miner from $7.80 to $8.50 following the release of the company’s FY23 results which saw the business deliver NPAT of $310m which exceeded Bell Potter’s expectations of $292m even though Lynas faced production issues in Q1 and the NdPr prices were weaker. Lynas also increased Capex as inflationary and time pressure mounts on the Kalgoorlie project, however the company also announced the installation of 9 thousand tonnes per annum of NdPr equivalent of increased capacity at Kalgoorlie.

Well looking at global markets overnight before jumping into the day ahead. US equities rallied higher, regaining ground in the last week of August, following a month of losses. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 both gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.84%, with Meta and Apple trading higher. However, the information technology sector of the S&P 500 is down almost 5% for the month, and all three major benchmarks have lost ground in August. 

European shares traded higher, as investors weighed the prospect of higher interest rates from the US Federal Reserve. Markets were closed in the UK for a public holiday. While Germany’s Dax and France’s CAC both advanced over 1%, and the STOXX600 gained 0.9%. 

What to watch today: 

• The SPI futures are suggesting that our local market will open 0.35% higher this morning. 
• In economic news, the RBA’s Deputy Governor Michele Bullock is set to give a speech at 11:30am AEST today. 
• And Reporting Season continues, so watch the share price movements of the company’s reporting today, including Cooper Energy (ASX:COE), Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) and Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR) and Zip Co (ASX:ZIP). 
• Looking at commodities, 
  • Crude oil is in the green, extending gains for the third straight session, as risk sentiment improves. However, investors are still cautious about the prospect of higher global oil supply and weaker demand. 
  • Gold continues to advance as investors await US economic data out this week, which will likely guide the interest rate outlook. 
  • And iron ore continues to jump, currently up a further 1.3% at US$117.50 per tonne, reaching its highest level in a month, amid high hopes for strong demand from steel producers. 
• And there are a long list of companies set to go ex-dividend today. Remember this often sees share prices fall, as investors take their profits. A few today include Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA), Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG), Lottery Corporation (ASX:TLC) and Worley (ASX:WOR).

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains their SELL rating on Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG), after the mining giant reported its FY23 financial result, which was in-line to slightly below Bell Potter’s forecasts on an underlying basis. They’ve lowered their price target by 3% to $15.53 and at FMG’s current share price of $19.87, implying a 22% loss. 
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Helia Group (ASX:HLI), indicating that the stock price may rise form the close of $3.84 to the range of $4.09 to $4.15 over 20 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis. 

Wall Street closed higher on Friday as investors welcomed comments made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium regarding stronger economic growth than expected.

The Nasdaq advanced almost 1% on Friday while the S&P500 rose 0.7% and the Dow Jones also lifted 0.7%. 

Over in Europe, markets closed mixed on Friday ahead of the European Central Bank President’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming over the weekend. On Friday, the STOXX600 fell 0.04%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.07%, the French CAC added 0.21% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 rose 0.07%.

Locally on Friday, the ASX200 fell 0.93%, weighed down by the tech sector falling 2.51%, while consumer staples and consumer discretionary stocks were the only to sectors to finish the final trading session of the week in the green. Lovisa rose 6.3% on Friday after the fashion jewellery retailer released strong FY23 results including revenue up 30% to $596.5m and net profit lifting 16.7% to $68.2m. While the results fell short of Bell Potter expectations, investors appeared impressed with the company’s report. Wesfarmers also rallied 3.2% on Friday after also releasing strong FY23 results led by a surge in revenue for Kmart and NPAT up 4.8% in FY23 against a slowing consumer spend environment. Another inclusion for Wesfarmers was the announcement of a 6.1% rise in the full year dividend.

What to watch today: 

• Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are expecting the ASX to open Monday’s session up 0.28%.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.57% higher at US$80.29/barrel, gold is down 0.11% at US$1915/ounce and iron ore is up 1.3% at US$117.50/tonne.
• Stocks trading ex-dividend today include Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN), Challenger (ASX:CGF), Domino’s Pizza (ASX:DMP), Santos (ASX:STO) and Aurizon (ASX:AZJ). If you’ve been thinking about these stocks, it might be worth considering buying in today, as stocks trading ex-dividend generally trade lower on the ex-dividend date.
• Australian preliminary retail sales data for July is out today with consensus expecting a rise of 0.3% for the month, up from a 0.8% fall in June which if the reading comes in-line with or above expectations, we could see a rally for consumer discretionary stocks today as this will indicate Aussie’s are still spending despite the high cost-of-living environment.
• AU$1.00 is buying US$0.64, 93.84 Japanese Yen, 50.84 British Pence and NZ$1.08. 

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has slightly decreased the price target on Cobram Estate Olives (ASX:CBO) from $1.75 to $1.70 and maintain a buy rating on the specialised olive oil producer and marketer following the release of the company’s FY23 results which came in line with expectations including 31% growth in revenue, and a key highlight was US NPAT of $7.7m which compares to a $0.7m loss in FY22. The outlook provided includes the expectation for sales to remain positive in FY24 both in the US and Australia, sufficient olive oil inventory levels despite lower-than-expected FY23 crop, and US harvest is expected to be materially higher than FY23. The reason for the price target decrease is as Bell Potter does not see the current share price as reflecting the inbuilt value upside of the farming and processing assets, and the inbuilt growth that is likely to emerge in the brand as company owned and third-party oil production lifts.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Ingenia Communities Group (ASX:INA) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 59-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $3.97 to the range of $3.25 to $3.40 according to standard principles of technical analysis.

So far this reporting season, 192 companies have reported, with 64 beating expectations, 70 meeting expectations, and 58 falling short of expectations. 29 companies have been upgraded by brokers while 23 have been downgraded. This week, supermarket giants released results with vastly different reactions from investors. The Aussie share market rose 0.48% (Mon-Thu) as a rally on the Nasdaq in the US fuelled a rally for local tech stocks.

The local tech sector rose 2.5% over the four-trading days. In this week's wrap, Grady covers:

• (0:28) Investor reactions to the supermarket giants’ results
• (1:30) Inghams Group (ASX:ING) & Qantas (ASX:QAN) results
• (3:19) China’s impact on the mining sector
• (3:56) Healthcare companies being the brunt of investor sell-off
• (4:42) Key themes this reporting season
• (5:21) Best performing stocks in the ASX200
• (6:06) The most traded stocks & ETFs by Bell Direct clients
• (6:41) Three economic news items to watch out for

Wall St fell sharply on Thursday, despite a tech rally which was led by a stronger than expected results from chipmaker Nvidia. The S&P 500 finished the day 1.35% lower, which was followed by the Dow Jones and the tech heavy Nasdaq losing 1.08% and 1.87% respectively.

Nvidia’s share price reached an all time high after its revenue and earnings significantly exceeded analysts’ expectations. The tech giant has also raised guidance with analysts’ predicting third quarter revenue to climb to $16 billion US dollars.

The S&P500’s information technology sector performed poorly on Thursday, ending the day down 2.15%. Shares of major tech companies such as Amazon and Apple finished lower by 2.7% and 2.6%.

Over in Europe, markets ended lower on Thursday as tech stocks fell by 2.3%. The STOXX600 ended the day 0.4% lower, with the financial services sector slightly offsetting losses, gaining 0.5%. Germany’s DAX closed 0.68% lower while the French CAC also ended the day 0.44% lower. This was slightly offset by the UK’s FTSE 100 which ended 0.18% in the green on Thursday.

Locally yesterday, the ASX 200 closed 0.47% higher on the back of strong results from the info tech sector which finished the day 4.2% higher. This was further supported by the financial sector and energy sector closing the day 1.04% and 0.89% higher respectively. This was offset by the consumer staples sector which closed 1.09% lower on Thursday.

What to watch: 

• The Australian share market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 1.28% at the open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  • Oil is up by 0.1% to 78 US dollars and 96 cents a barrel after deteriorating economic situations in China.
  • Gold is up 0.15% higher to 1915 US dollars an ounce as markets have scaled back bets on further tightening from the Federal Reserve. 
  • And iron ore is up 2.22% to 115 US dollars a tonne after renewed bets of stronger demand form steel producers.

Trading Ideas: 

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) and maintain a price target of $1.05 on the company after Alkane’s underlying NPAT grew 19% to $42.1m on 5% growth in gold production. Bell Potter’s analyst says that with upside of 57.9% from the closing share price, the buy rating is maintained in accordance to the rating structure.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal in Tabcorp Holdings (ASX:TAH), following the formation of a pattern formed over 20 days, which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise form the close of $1.09 to the range of $1.13-$1.15, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.