Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s market close for Wednesday 26th of Feb, I’m Jonathon Davidson.
Risk-off sentiment continued to define the XJO with the Aussie share market ending in the red down 0.14%. At least this time the red finish is more flattish than steep.
Looking at sectors, Energy took the top spot up 1.3% followed by Financials up 0.7%.
The Materials sector led the laggards down -1.6% followed by real estate down -1.3%.
Looking at companies in the green,
Pointsbet Holdings jumped over 30% as it announced peer BlueBet has offered to buy the company for up to $360M including both cash and scrip. BlueBet, whose main product is gambling service Betr, has engaged Morgans and Ord Minnett to assist it, showing it’s serious. Pointsbet last traded at $1.10/sh.
Elsewhere, HotCopper favourite Melbana Energy jumped around 3.5% as it posted its maiden resource estimates for oil and gas blocks offshore WA in the energy hotspot that is the north west shelf. The move departs a quiet shift away from Cuba as that country continues to deal with multiple economic crises, shares in Melbana ended up at 3cps. .
Finally, another forum darling FBR Limited posted a strong day though on low volumes as it announced its robot boom arm housebuilding product, Hadrian X, has caught the eyes of Samsung’s shipbuilding division. A demonstration in Perth earlier this month apparently sparked some curiosity for the Korean giant, FBR shares ended at 2.2cps.
And as for the reds,
Jewellery chain owner Michael Hill took a modest dive after announcing the sad and unexpected death of its CEO Daniel Bracken overnight. An adverse reaction to a medical treatment for an existing condition was blamed, shares ended down over -5% at 44cps.
Elsewhere, tech favourite Appen Limited staged a hefty dive down over -30% as investors digested the news its revenue sunk nearly -15% versus the prior period, helping to post a net loss of $20M after tax. Appen closed down over -30% at $1.92 per share.
Finally, another HotCopper favourite, Brainchip Holdings fell nearly -16% on no news but given its recent rebranding as an AI stock, it appears to be subject to the ebbing tides of momentum in that thematic. Microsoft has this week cancelled a lease on a data centre it was building, leaving Wall Street to wonder if it’s been a bit overoptimistic about AI stocks. Brainchip ended at 26cps.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Close for Wednesday, I’m Jonathon Davidson, have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.