Latest news with #bank shares
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ASX falls to worst day since April
Australia's sharemarket had its sharpest one-day fall since the fallout from Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' fallout smashed markets in early April, as investors sold down their big four bank shares ahead of company results. The benchmark ASX 200 slumped 89 points or 1.02 per cent to 8,668.20. The massive falls came just a single trading day after the benchmark had its best gains since the mid April recovery. Even with the large falls during Monday's trading, the ASX 200 still had its second highest ever close. The broader All Ordinaries also fell 80.60 points or 0.89 per cent to 8,926.20. The local dollar eked out a small gain and was buying 65.13 US cents at the time of writing. Banks, consumer discretionary and property stocks led the declines with the market heavy financials slumping 2.51 per cent. Westpac was the hardest hit of the big four banks down 3.61 per cent to $33.07, while CBA slumped 2.52 per cent to $177.87, ANZ sank 2.50 per cent to $30.05 and NAB slid 2.40 per cent to $38.25. Consumer discretionary stocks also slumped during Monday's trading. Wesfarmers fell 0.97 per cent to $83.75, JB Hi Fi dropped 1.48 per cent to $105.91 and Eagers Automotive slumped 3.58 per cent to $18.88. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said Monday's sharp fall is the largest since the Liberation Day sell-off in early April and is almost twice the size ASX futures predicted when they closed 49 points lower on Saturday morning. 'In the absence of any fresh news, today's pullback is possibly related to profit taking ahead of the August earnings season which will likely highlight stretched valuations with certain sectors, particularly the banks,' he said. Meanwhile the major iron ore miners were one of the bright spots on the market, after the price of the underlying commodity continued its march higher. Iron ore futures rose 1.2 per cent to $US99.50 a tonne. Shares in BHP rose 0.42 per cent to $40.46, Rio Tinto gained 1.19 per cent to $114.46 while Fortescue climbed 1.47 per cent to $17.25. In company news, AMP shares jumped 9.77 per cent to $1.68 after announcing its latest results. According to its latest statement AMP's superannuation division posted its first net inflow since 2017, along with growth in its platform and rising assets under management. Shares in Afterpay's parent company Block soared 11.18 per cent to $122 after cracking the US S & P 500. Block will replace Hess Corp after it was acquired by Chevron. Australian home builder AV Jennings is up 1.50 per cent to $0.68 after it announced a fully franked special dividend of 16.7 cents per share on the condition it can be acquired by American real estate firm Proprium Capital Partners. Shares in Cromwell Property Group jumped 8.22 per cent to $0.40, after announcing Brookfield has signed a binding sales and purchase agreement which is subject to the Foreign Investment Review Board approval. Investsmart Group shares also soared 9.09 per cent to $0.12 per cent after the business announced a jump in total funds under management and strong performance fees revenue. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
News.com.au
21-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Big four banks drag the ASX to worst day since April
Australia's sharemarket had its sharpest one-day fall since the fallout from Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' fallout smashed markets in early April, as investors sold down their big four bank shares ahead of company results. The benchmark ASX 200 slumped 89 points or 1.02 per cent to 8,668.20. The massive falls came just a single trading day after the benchmark had its best gains since the mid April recovery. Even with the large falls during Monday's trading, the ASX 200 still had its second highest ever close. The broader All Ordinaries also fell 80.60 points or 0.89 per cent to 8,926.20. The local dollar eked out a small gain and was buying 65.13 US cents at the time of writing. Banks, consumer discretionary and property stocks led the declines with the market heavy financials slumping 2.51 per cent. Westpac was the hardest hit of the big four banks down 3.61 per cent to $33.07, while CBA slumped 2.52 per cent to $177.87, ANZ sank 2.50 per cent to $30.05 and NAB slid 2.40 per cent to $38.25. Consumer discretionary stocks also slumped during Monday's trading. Wesfarmers fell 0.97 per cent to $83.75, JB Hi Fi dropped 1.48 per cent to $105.91 and Eagers Automotive slumped 3.58 per cent to $18.88. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said Monday's sharp fall is the largest since the Liberation Day sell-off in early April and is almost twice the size ASX futures predicted when they closed 49 points lower on Saturday morning. 'In the absence of any fresh news, today's pullback is possibly related to profit taking ahead of the August earnings season which will likely highlight stretched valuations with certain sectors, particularly the banks,' he said. Meanwhile the major iron ore miners were one of the bright spots on the market, after the price of the underlying commodity continued its march higher. Iron ore futures rose 1.2 per cent to $US99.50 a tonne. Shares in BHP rose 0.42 per cent to $40.46, Rio Tinto gained 1.19 per cent to $114.46 while Fortescue climbed 1.47 per cent to $17.25. In company news, AMP shares jumped 9.77 per cent to $1.68 after announcing its latest results. According to its latest statement AMP's superannuation division posted its first net inflow since 2017, along with growth in its platform and rising assets under management. Shares in Afterpay's parent company Block soared 11.18 per cent to $122 after cracking the US S & P 500. Block will replace Hess Corp after it was acquired by Chevron. Australian home builder AV Jennings is up 1.50 per cent to $0.68 after it announced a fully franked special dividend of 16.7 cents per share on the condition it can be acquired by American real estate firm Proprium Capital Partners. Shares in Cromwell Property Group jumped 8.22 per cent to $0.40, after announcing Brookfield has signed a binding sales and purchase agreement which is subject to the Foreign Investment Review Board approval. Investsmart Group shares also soared 9.09 per cent to $0.12 per cent after the business announced a jump in total funds under management and strong performance fees revenue.
Telegraph
21-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
This banking group has already recovered from Trump's tariffs
Questor is The Telegraph's stock-picking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. The question of whether or not to buy bank shares tends to firmly divide opinion among investors. Tightly regulated, stable in the main and with deep access to capital, they can generate solid returns for shareholders seeking income over the longer term. On the downside, they are highly sensitive to economic cycles and changes in interest rates, and have an unfortunate tendency to suffer periodic blow-ups in their loan books. One lender with qualities to swing the argument in its favour is Bladex, a Latin American banking group whose shares are listed in New York. The bank, formally known as Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior SA, specialises in trade finance. This essentially means oiling the wheels of the imports and exports businesses of companies and financial institutions in Latin America trading among themselves and with the rest of the world. Although it makes most of its money in countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, it serves a total of 23 economies across Latin America and the Caribbean, and also has offices in the US. And while the shares, listed since 1992, have risen by just over 275pc in the past five years, they still offer remarkably good value, including a dividend yield that this year is expected to run to close to 6pc. Prospective buyers should be sure to fill in the forms, minimising withholding taxes and checking with their provider for any additional dealing charges. Some of the world's smartest money has bought into this lender in recent years. A total of 11 of the best-performing fund managers globally hold shares in Bladex, each of them in the top 3pc of the more than 10,000 tracked by financial publisher Citywire. The level of smart-money backing means the bank has Citywire's top AAA Elite Companies rating, which measures the conviction levels of these top-performing owners. Now, it may seem counter-intuitive to look at a trade finance bank when trade itself has been upended globally by Donald Trump's tariff war, but the issue bears closer scrutiny. For starters, Trump has set the baseline tariff for the majority of Latin America at 10pc, the least punitive of the president's global levies. It could reasonably be argued that, not only is this rate relatively easily absorbable and won't hit demand, it could actually give the region an economic advantage. With China having to endure tariff rates of 55pc, Vietnam hit with a new 40pc levy on US-inbound goods and the EU threatened with a 30pc charge, Latin America is now cheaper for US importers to do business with relative to some of its main competitors. It's true that Trump is threatening Mexico with tariffs of 30pc and Brazil with a rate of 50pc, but these levels – more ideological than trade-related – are clearly unsustainable. If no truce is negotiated, the logical corollary is that Brazil, for one, will simply deepen its existing ties with friendlier trading partners such as China and India. Bladex can be a winner from shifts in the trading patterns of its main countries of business. That the bank's shares have more than recovered from their temporary drop in April, the time of Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs extravaganza, certainly suggests the wider market is unworried. Besides, this bank shows its quality on a raft of different measures. Last year, for example, Bladex notched up record net profits of $206m (£153m), a 24pc rise driven by a big increase in its loan book and unprecedented levels of fee income. The bank has also been improving its profitability – its return on equity reached 16.2pc in 2024, a 1.5pc increase on a year earlier. Bladex's double-digit growth rates continued into the first quarter and, crucially, the quality of its portfolio remained strikingly high. Of its $10.7bn commercial loans at the end of the first three months of 2025, just 0.1pc represented non-performing loans. Its net interest margin, essentially the difference between the rate paid to savers and the fees charged to borrowers, stood at 2.36pc, a reflection of its healthy underlying profitability. For this, investors can expect to pay a multiple of just 7.2 times this year's forecast earnings. At that level, Bladex looks like a bargain. Questor says: buy Ticker: NYSE:BLX Share price: $42.65 Miles Costello is a contributing journalist to Citywire Elite Companies
