ASX to edge up as Wall Street drifts; Nvidia shares up after results
Stocks drifted to a mixed close on Wall Street in what has been a rocky week so far because of worries coming out of the bond market about the US government's mounting debt.
Trading remained choppy throughout most of the day following Wednesday's big slump for the S&P 500. That loss has put the benchmark index on track for its worst week in the last seven.
The S&P 500 slipped 2.60 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to close at 5,842.01. The Dow Jones fell 1.35 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 41,859.09. The Nasdaq composite rose 53.09 points, or 0.3 per cent to 18,925.73.
The Australian sharemarket is set to inch up, with futures at 6.31am AEST pointing to a rise of 5 points, or 0.1 per cent, at the open. The ASX lost 0.1 per cent on Wednesday after the latest inflation figures came in higher than expected.
Loading
Technology stocks did most of the heavy lifting for the broader market. The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 lost ground, but gains for technology companies with outsized values offset those losses. Google's parent Alphabet jumped 1.4 per cent.
Nvidia, the world's most valuable chipmaker, gave a solid revenue forecast for the current period as it released its results after the closing bell, even as a slowdown in China weighed on results.
Sales will be about $US45 billion ($70 billion) in the fiscal second quarter, which runs through July, the company said on Wednesday. That included the loss of roughly $US8 billion in revenue from China because of export controls. The forecast was in line with analysts' estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The outlook shows that Nvidia is ramping up production of Blackwell, its latest semiconductor design. The chipmaker — the world's largest by revenue — dominates the market for AI accelerators, the components that help develop and run artificial intelligence models. And an ever-broader lineup of hardware and software is letting Nvidia sell more products to customers. Shares are 3.8 per cent higher in extended trading.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
42 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Scott Power: ASX health stocks rise as Healthscope landlord agrees to rent deferral deal
ASX health stocks up 1.2% over past five days while the broader market is up 0.8% HealthCo REIT agrees to short-term partial rent deferral with troubled Healthscope and its receivers New-Zealand-based soft-tissue repair company Aroa Biosurgery delivers maiden full-year profit Healthcare and life sciences expert Scott Power, who has been a senior analyst with Morgans Financial for 27 years, gives his take on the ASX healthcare sector for the week and his 'Powerplay' stock pick. The big story for Australia's health care sector this week was Australia's second largest private hospital provider unlisted Healthscope appointing receivers after Canadian private equity owner Brookfield earlier handed the business over to its lenders owing ~$1.6 billion. The HMC Capital (ASX:HMC) controlled Healthco Healthcare and Wellness REIT (ASX:HCW) – which owns four properties tenanted by Healthscope – have struck a short-term partial rent deferral deal with Healthscope and its receivers. In 2023, HCW and the Unlisted Healthcare Fund (UHF) bought 11 privately owned hospital buildings from NYSE-listed Medical Properties Trust for a total of $1.2bn. Healthscope is the tenant in all 11 hospitals — four owned by HCW and seven by UHF. HCW owns 49.6% of UHF, with the rest owned by other large institutional investors. Under the rental deal: All outstanding rent arrears for March and April 2025 and 85% of rent for May 2025 will be paid immediately HCW and UHF will receive 85% of the rent due for the period June-August 2025 The remaining 15% deferred rent for the May-August 2025 period is due in September 2025 HCW said it had also received formal expressions of interest from alternative Australian hospital operators to re-tenant the facilities. In a note to clients Morgans' research analyst Liam Schofield wrote the deal represented positive progress, with the temporary 15% incentive lower than the 50% incentive for the initial two years agreed under the recently expired original lease agreement. "The agreement calls for the 15% incentive (from May to Aug) to be repaid in Sep-25 (suggesting there is potential for HCW to receive full rent going forward)," he wrote. "We have factored in a permanent ~20% rent reduction to the Healthscope assets, with the 15% incentive potentially pointing to a reduced rent level something closer to market (in our opinion) and above our expectations." Schofield wrote the HCW unit price would likely rise if a revised lease agreement was secured, where 100% of a slightly reduced rent (around 10-15% below the current level) was paid consistently and sustainably. However, he believes this is unlikely to happen until Healthscope is formally sold by receivers. He wrote that HCW was a diversified healthcare REIT with high-quality assets and scale. "The portfolio is valued at $1.6bn, with 57% of the portfolio exposed to private hospitals. "The financial restructure of Healthscope (a key tenant) and its capacity to pay 100% of the rent is the key catalyst (currently 50% rent abatement)." Given the uncertainty, Morgans have a hold rating on HCW and 90 cent price target based on its net asset valuation. Stronger week for healthcare stocks At 2.45pm (AEST) on Friday the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care index was up 1.2% for the past five days, while the benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.8% for the same period. "Markets are holding their ground" Power said. Power's Powerplay: Neuren on track for phase III trial Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU) is Power's pick of the week after holding its AGM on Tuesday. Power said a main takeaway from the AGM was that its second drug candidate NNZ-2591 continues to progress in development for multiple neurodevelopmental disorders with a pivotal trial for Phelan-McDermid Syndrome on track to start later this year. Neuren became the first company in the world to develop a treatment for Rett Syndrome with trofinetide (marketed as Daybue) approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2023. "They're planning to start the pivotal trial for Phelan-McDermid later this year and they've got plenty of cash to execute on that so are in a pretty good position." The Neuren share price is up ~10% for the week. Aroa reports maiden full-year profit for FY25 New-Zealand-based soft-tissue repair company Aroa Biosurgery (ASX:ARX) has delivered its first full-year profit since listing on the ASX in 2020. With the New Zealand financial year ending on March 31, Aroa reported a normalised EBITDA profit of NZ$4.2 million for FY25, rebounding from a NZ$3.1 million loss in FY24. Total revenue for FY25 of NZ$84.7m was an increase of 23% on the previous year and exceeded guidance of NZ$81-84m. Product revenue for the year reached NZ$84m, up 24% from the previous year, driven largely by the continued strong performance of its Myriad product family. Aroa has provided FY26 total revenue guidance of NZ$92-100m, which is 10 to 20% growth on FY25 on a constant currency basis. "They reported ahead of their guidance bearing in mind their guidance had been revised down so it was good they could slightly exceed it," Power said. "They've set themselves what we consider to be conservative guidance for '26 so we think they will come in at the upper end or above that." Power said Morgans had adjusted its sales numbers down slightly, which still has it at the top end of guidance. "We have brought our EBITDA number down quite significantly to sit at the top end of guidance for FY26 so we have our adjusted our price target back to 77 cents from 93 cents so still plenty of upside from the current share price," he said. Morgans maintains a speculative buy on Aroa. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare FY25 results beat guidance Meanwhile, New Zealand-based medical devices supplier Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (ASX:FPH) reported stronger-than-expected results for FY25, with an adjusted net profit of NZ$377.2 million, up 43% beating both market expectations (NZ$362m) and company guidance (NZ$320–370m). Revenue came in at NZ$2.02bn, up 16% and also slightly ahead of expectations. The strong result was driven by solid growth across hospital consumables, an increase in gross profit margin to 62.9% and lower-than-expected operating expenses at NZ$761m. This led to a jump in operating profit margin to 25.2%, ahead of the expected 24.5%. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare declared a final dividend of 24 cents, bringing the full-year dividend to 42.5 cents, a 2% increase. "The hospital division is showing good progress, with consumable uptake exceeding expectations," Morgans healthcare analyst Derek Jellinek wrote in a note to clients. "As for as the Homecare division goes, it should come as little surprise that growth is being driven by increased mask sales, given new product launches and abating supply chain issues." Jellinek said in the Homecare division, it was no surprise that growth was being fuelled by higher sales of its obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) masks with new product launches and easing supply chain issues. He said despite Philips still largely absent from the OSA market following a product recall in 2021 and strong underlying demand in the sector – even with growing attention on possible impact of obesity drugs – Morgans don't expect Fisher & Paykel to significantly affect the solid growth of leader in sleep-related respiratory disorders ResMed (ASX:RMD). Lumos grows US Medicare coverage for FebriDx Lumos Diagnostics (ASX:LDX) continues to grow its US Medicare coverage for FebriDx test, a rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostic designed to differentiate between bacterial and non-bacterial acute respiratory infections. Lumos this week announced FebriDx would be included in the medicare coverage for Medicare Administrative Contractor CGS Administrators, which is responsible for managing medicare payments in the US states of Kentucky and Ohio. Coverage by CGS at US$41.38 per test per test will be backdated to May 1, 2025. Lumos now has Medicare reimbursement from six of seven Medicare Administrative Contractors, representing more than 85% of total US Medicare payment coverage. National Government Services remains the only Medicare Administrative Contractor to be added, which Lumos said it remained committed to securing. Medicare comprises around 20-24% of the US payor mix and often sets a precedent for private payors. Lumos said achieving reimbursement coverage was a critical validation milestone on the path to meaningful adoption of FebriDx in the US. "Getting Medicare coverage in the US is an important step forward for Lumos," Power said. The views, information, or opinions expressed in the interview in th is article are solely those of the interviewee and do not represent the views of Stockhead. Stockhead has not provided, endorsed or otherwise assumed responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article. At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Aroa Biosurgery and Lumos Diagnostics are Stockhead advertisers, the companies did not sponsor this article.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
ASX Runners of the Week: Eden, Focus Minerals, InFocus & Dateline
The company's shares bounced back from a lowly 0.15c per share close last week to trade at 0.5c per share on Friday, up 333 per cent, on nearly $1 million of paper traded across two days. Eden's star carbon nanotube-enriched concrete additive, EdenCrete, is shaking up the increasingly green concrete industry by boosting batch strength while slashing the need for carbon-heavy ordinary Portland cement. A major win came with a $141,000 order from Holcim US for a 22-storey high-rise in Denver, which is Eden's first big-ticket commercial project. The market lapped it up, with shares surging on Eden's green concrete breakthrough into high-rise buildings, one of the biggest addressable markets. Meanwhile, Eden's OptiBlend dual-fuel kit, which lets diesel generators run cleaner on natural gas, continues to hum in the background, fuelling company sales across the US and India. With concrete giants such as Holcim jumping on board and sales breaking into the mammoth high-rise building industry, Eden looks poised to cement its place as a clean tech leader. If its momentum holds, the company could go from market battler to skyscraper-high regular in quick succession. FOCUS MINERALS (ASX: FML) up 161% (23c – 60c) Bulls N' Bears' silver medallist this week is Western Australian gold miner Focus Minerals, which shot up like a prospector's pickaxe on Tuesday thanks to a juicy $250M cash deal to offload its Laverton gold project to $5 billion market darling Genesis Minerals. Punters were left scrambling to pick up shares in the cashed-up gold miner on Monday, with a whopping $5.2M traded to push the company's shares up 161 per cent to 60c per share. Nestled in WA's prolific Leonora-Laverton district, the Laverton project is a stone's throw from Genesis' massive 3-million-tonne per annum Laverton mill. The acquisition looks like a perfect fit for Genisis and is set to churn out ample tonnages of open pit and underground gold ore for the company's hungry mill. The deal contains no pesky conditions precedent and is set to seal in early June, handing Focus a mountainous $250M in cash, which looks very timely considering the company is lugging around $187M in debt. Focus will retain its producing Coolgardie gold project, where it cracked a record mining output in the past quarter. Its Three Mile Hill mill processed a thumping 370,262 tonnes for a handy 5376 ounces of gold at $4388 per ounce. With its Bonnie Vale underground mine ahead of schedule and its Alicia open pit firing up, Focus could be hitting its straps in no time, as it looks to increase its lower-grade gold ore with higher-grade output from the newer mines. Laverton's synergistic sale sent Focus' shares flying as investors bet on the company's cash windfall to turn its luck around in a red-hot gold price environment. With Coolgardie's Bonnie Vale underground cranking out ore and a new 80-room camp to house its growing crew, Focus is sitting pretty to join the mid-cap success stories of WA's gold sector – aided by its newfound financial flexibility. INFOCUS GROUP HOLDINGS (ASX: IFG) up 140% (0.5c – 1.2c) Taking out the final podium spot on Runners of the Week is digital solutions experts InFocus Group, which shot out of a cannon on Tuesday by unveiling a blockbuster US$3.25M (A$5M) deal to become the exclusive tech partner for Taiwanese gaming guru TG Solutions Consulting. A feeding frenzy ensued with the company's share price rocketing 140 per cent to 1.2c per share on a sizzling $1.2M in stock traded. This was nearly as much as the entire company's preannouncement market valuation of $1.3M. InFocus says it is set to build a cutting-edge iGaming platform for TG's white-label distribution. It promises to be packed with bells and whistles, such as a polymarket-inspired dynamic odds system, digital collectibles, tokenised loyalty programs and crypto payments. The contract includes milestone-based payments and locks in InFocus as TG's go-to tech partner for all future rollouts. The company says it's a growing market trend as predictive gaming evolves thanks to big data, analytics and cybersecurity expenditure. Investors would seem to agree, betting big on InFocus's pivot into the red-hot iGaming sector. With trials wrapping up and the platform set to launch within two years, the company looks well-positioned at the forefront of a digital gaming revolution that might return the market minnow to its former glory. DATELINE RESOURCES (ASX: DTR) up 86% (5.5c – 10.25c) Finally, Dateline Resources has hit the Runners list for the third time in almost as many weeks. Attempting its best 'broken record' impersonation and continuing to break its share price highs, the US-based junior goldie's share price has risen an eye-watering 1950 per cent this quarter and shows no signs of slowing down. The company's shares peaked on Friday at 10.25c, up 86 per cent over the week, on a monumental $80M in shares traded. Following Trump's Truth Social championing of the company's 'rare earths mine' earlier this month, Dateline continued its breakout on Tuesday when it told the market its Colosseum project in California could be sitting on a much larger gold system than previously realised. A recent rock chip program picked up several outcropping felsite dykes up 1 kilometre west and 4km southwest of the existing pit, which appear to follow a deliberate geological trend. Adding fuel to the fire, results of a fresh surface geochemical survey now point to concealed breccia pipes lurking just beyond the rim of the mine's historic pits. The company says the new mineralisation lines up like clockwork with its known structural gold system and could point to a string of satellite intrusions which, if confirmed, could unearth even more gold-rich breccia pipes brewing just below the surface. The latest rock samples lit up with classic pathfinder elements such as antimony, bismuth and tellurium, which are textbook signs of an intrusion-related gold system. These IRGS-style systems are known for their layered structure, with lighter elements floating near the surface and the real prize - gold - tending to settle deeper. Armed with a fresh trail of geological breadcrumbs, Dateline is ramping up for its next big move. More surface sampling is underway, and the company is locking in its first drilling campaign beyond the pit walls. The program will chase the projected path of the newly mapped felsite dykes and test if the Colosseum's breccia pipes are just the tip of a much bigger, vertically stacked golden iceberg. If the upcoming drill campaign strikes more gold, it could blow the doors open on Dateline's already impressive 1.1-million-ounce resource and unlock a whole new chapter of potential at Colosseum.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Mitsubishi won't slash prices to remain a top-five brand in Australia
Mitsubishi says it intends to remain profitable in Australia while offering good-value products, but it won't slash its prices to remain a top-five auto brand here. 'While we have acknowledged a top-five volume target in the past, we aren't targeting a specific ranking or number,' Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited CEO Shaun Westcott told CarExpert as part of an interview for our Expert Insights series. 'Our focus remains on delivering quality vehicles that consumers want, and supporting them throughout their ownership experience, while remaining profitable.' Last year, Mitsubishi delivered 74,547 vehicles in Australia, making it the fifth best-selling brand on the market. It was up one spot and over 11,000 sales compared with its 2023 tally, though down slightly on its fourth-place position in 2022 when it delivered close to 77,000 vehicles. Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now . Mitsubishi sales have ebbed and flowed somewhat over the years. It reached a height of 84,123 deliveries in 1998, but annual deliveries wouldn't exceed 80,000 units again until 2017. It managed this feat in 2018 and 2019 as well, in the dying days of the popular Lancer. While Mitsubishi vehicles like the outgoing ASX have often undercut rivals from Japan and Europe, a raft of Chinese brands have entered the Australian market with sharply priced vehicles of their own. The ASX opens at $24,290 before on-road costs, but the new Chery Tiggo 4 opens at $23,990 drive-away. Its Outlander, the second best-selling mid-size SUV in Australia, opens at $39,990 before on-roads, which sees it undercut by the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max , MG HS , and GWM Haval H6 . Many of these Chinese rivals have also offered significantly discounted pricing as part of runout or EOFY deals. 'In the current competitive landscape, heavily discounting and increasing incentives are a short-term race to the bottom,' said Mr Westcott. 'Mitsubishi is a volume player, but we have moved beyond being seen as 'cheap'; we are now known for creating value via well-equipped, capable and reliable vehicles that fit Australian customers.' Likely to impact Mitsubishi's performance this year, however, is the loss of a few key vehicles. A new Australian Design Rule (ADR) that came into effect on March 1, 2025, outlining specific performance requirements for autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems, forced Mitsubishi to discontinue the Eclipse Cross , Pajero Sport , and the Japanese-built ASX . The ASX nameplate isn't dead, however, with a replacement – a rebadged Renault Captur , built in Spain – due late on sale here in 2025. Mitsubishi was also able to secure sufficient stock of discontinued vehicles, complied before March 1, to the point these vehicles remain on its local website as at the end of May. The company still sold enough ASXs in April, for example, to make it the sixth best-selling vehicle in its segment. The Pajero Sport also still managed to outsell sharply priced rivals from challenger brands like the LDV D90 and KGM Rexton , even if it fell far short of the likes of the Isuzu MU-X . A new-generation Pajero Sport is expected in 2026 following a commitment from the brand to remain in key vehicle segments in which the brand is already established. Mitsubishi has confirmed it's in development, though whether it retains the Pajero Sport name is 'still to be decided'. However, Mitsubishi says it's too early to confirm the Renault Scenic E-Tech-based Eclipse Cross EV set to be revealed in September, while a separate electric vehicle (EV) based on the Nissan Leaf and intended for North America is also uncertain to come here. Instead, Mitsubishi has confirmed a new product in the shape of an EV sourced from Taiwanese firm Foxtron . It's due in Australia during the second half of 2026. That will see Mitsubishi offer four to five nameplates in Australia by the end of 2026. Prior to March 1, Mitsubishi was importing vehicles into Australia across five nameplates. Mitsubishi says between now and 2030 it will launch at least eight new and refreshed models in Australia. 'It has been well publicised, and I have to say sensationalised, that we reduced our model lineup at the start of 2025 due to a change in ADR requirements,' said Mr Westcott. 'This wasn't limited to Mitsubishi but also impacted other brands, who seem to have escaped some of the sensationalism. 'We did announce the replacement of the ASX simultaneously, but some media houses chose to ignore or downplay this in exchange for sensationalist headlines. 'The timing of this change restricted us to confirming only the ASX replacement at the time, but we also said other new models would be confirmed in due course which has subsequently happened, as promised. 'Our future lineup will include a balanced mix of petrol, diesel, PHEV, and EV models – all designed for the Australian lifestyle and backed by our 10/10 warranty and capped-price servicing.' While the days of the Lancer, Magna and Pajero are long gone, Mitsubishi remains a high-volume brand in Australia thanks to the popularity of vehicles like the ASX, Outlander and Triton. 'From a Mitsubishi perspective, we have been selling vehicles in Australia for 45 years, and we intend to be here for the foreseeable future, and beyond,' said Mr Westcott. 'You can't buy history like that, or the affinity with the Australian market that it creates. 'Our Australian manufacturing legacy remains strong; we are part of the Australian fabric, particularly in South Australia. And that can create a strong emotional connection.' Mr Westcott also noted Mitsubishi's network of over 200 dealers and extensive parts and aftersales support. 'We intend to remain a key player in the automotive segment in Australia for decades to come,' he added. Our full Expert Insights interview with Shaun Westcott will be published on Saturday, May 31.
