World news – ASX edges ahead; The crown increases 19% on the Blackstone bid

The shares in the Anteotech diagnostic outfit rose 18 percent to 26.5 cents after the company published positive results for a rapid COVID-19 antigen test.

The nanotech company in Brisbane wants Follow in the footsteps of his Queensland colleague Ellume and conduct new types of coronavirus testing worldwide.

Anteotech announced this morning to investors that a clinical study of its test in Victoria showed 97.3 percent sensitivity to antigens for Sars-CoV-2.

The data forms the basis for the company’s filing for a CE mark for testing in Europe.

The company’s shares rose $ 422.4 million most recently by 13.3 percent to 25.5 cents. Insurance giant IAG’s shares plummeted, as did the price of its major competitors, as claims from customers hit by widespread flooding in NSW and Queensland gradually rise.

The $ 12 billion company, which operates in the affected areas through NRMA Insurance, CGU Insurance, WFI Insurance and Coles Insurance, said it made additional claims for damages that worked over the weekend, to make sure customers get support as soon as possible.

This includes finding emergency shelter for customers and making sure the waiting times for calls to file a claim are not long.

More than 2100 applications had been submitted to the IAG yesterday evening at 8 p.m., mainly covering property damage. The IAG said it was too early to pinpoint the net cost of the floods and storms.

The company’s shares fell 2.7 percent to $ 4.73 this morning after an hour of trading on the ASX. QBE Insurance fell 2.2 percent to $ 9.57 and Suncorp fell 2.1 percent to $ 9.92.

As shown in IAG’s financial results for the first half of February, that Catastrophe reinsurance program 2021 resulted in a maximum event retention of USD 169 million (post-quota portion) as of January 1.

CSL shares rose 1.5 percent this morning to USD 257.94 as the company has reached a milestone in its most famous project to date: manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines for Australia.

The local drug agency yesterday approved vaccine maker Seqirus as a local manufacturer of AstraZeneca vaccines, paving the way paved for CSL doses to be released in the coming days.

CSL will manufacture 50 million doses of the vaccine this year and target 1 million doses per week starting next month. Credit: Jason South

The final step for the Australian made vaccine is the TGA batch release, which is required for each batch of vaccine shipped in Australia. This includes a review of the documents provided by the commercial sponsor describing how the batch of vaccine was manufactured, tested, shipped, and stored, as well as TGA’s internal laboratory testing to ensure that the vaccine was manufactured to the required standards, a? ??? The Therapeutic Goods Administration said yesterday.

« Final batch release documentation is expected to be received from AstraZeneca shortly and the first batches are expected to be released in the next few days. » Manufactures 50 million doses of the vaccine a year and aims to target 1 million doses a week next month.

It’s been a year since the COVID-19 sell-off in Australia, but CSL stocks were down a year ago Up 10.1 percent to $ 282.24.

As JP Morgan analysts pointed out this month, CSL has bigger problems than vaccines: Fiscal incentives in the US are likely to increase plasma collection for its Could make products even more difficult in the coming months.

« We anticipate this will lead to a decline in collections over the next several months before conditions normalize to support recovery. » Analyst David Low said in a note to clients.

The Australian stock market rose after 30 minutes of trading on Monday and repaired an opening decline of 0.3 percent.

The benchmark index was last around 0 at 6717.5 , 1 percent ahead of him, falling to a low of 6688.2.

Biotech CSL led a recovery in the healthcare sector, rising 0.8 percent to $ 256.05. NAB and ANZ turned a weak start to pushing higher, while Wesfarmers, Woolies and Telstra were also in the black.

Big miners remained depressed after a fall in iron ore prices, while the energy sector rose 2 percent after oil prices hit a five-day series of losses.

The Australian stock market stumbled at the start of a new week, but casino giant Crown was delighted with the confirmation of Blackstone’s $ 8 billion takeover bid.

The James Packer-backed group announced Monday morning that that she received the unsolicited, non-binding and indicative proposal from Blackstone worth $ 11.85 per share on Sunday.

The company’s shares rose up to 18.8 percent to $ 11.75. This was the best price since the coronavirus market collapsed last February.

The wider ASX 200 fell 0.3 percent, with major banks, miners and real estate stocks lower.

Fortescue Metals fell 3.8 percent to $ 19.26, BHP lost 0.8 percent to $ 44.53 and Rio Tinto also fell 0.8 percent to $ 108.20 after iron ore prices on Friday had decreased.

CSL rose 0.3 percent to $ 254.79, with Wesfarmers, Woolworths and Telstra also up.

Mark Toomey, Synlait Milk’s Director of Operations, is leaving the New Zealand dairy for Australia.

Synlait said this morning that Mr Toomey, who joined Graincorp’s $ 815.2 million Synlait in December 2019, decided it was time to seize new opportunities.

Um In support of this transition, Synlait welcomes back Matthew Foster, who left the company in March 2020 and started as a freelance agribusiness and merger and acquisition consultant.

Mr Toomey, who oversaw Synlait’s operations team over COVID-19, will stay with Synlait until mid-June 2021.

The company’s shares, listed on the ASX, closed at $ 3.56 on Friday and are down 27.3 percent so far this year.

A mistake by the Australian Stock Exchange will delay the IPO of the gig economy startup Airtasker by a day and raise new questions about the integrity of the exchange.

Airtasker founder and CEO Tim Fung was ready to go on Ring the bell on the ASX Monday morning for the $ 255 million IPO. However, the highly anticipated listing was suspended until Tuesday due to human error on the ASX.

Airtasker’s founder and CEO Tim Fung has to wait another day for the start-up to be listed on ASX. Photo credit: James Brickwood

The bug is the latest issue for the ASX after a major outage on the exchange in November due to a Nasdaq software issue that prompted an ongoing investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission into a possible breach of its Licensing commitments to the ASX triggered a fair and transparent market run.

Mr. Fung said while the delay was « water by a duck » back. For Airtasker, ready and excited to proceed with the listing, there were concerns about the ASX’s operations.

I don’t think one day will make a difference, but I certainly think this is something for the ASX In order to effectively maintain the integrity of the Australian stock market you will need to be accountable and responsible.

With Airtasker, users can outsource tasks that range from IKEA furniture assembly to finding a makeup artist. It is said to land on the ASX at 65 cents per share and a market valuation of $ 255.4 million. The startup posted a loss of $ 5.2 million for the year and forecast revenue of $ 24.5 million this year versus $ 19.3 million for fiscal 2020 in its prospectus.

Autobarn- Owner Bapcor has acquired a 25 percent stake in Tye Soon, a Singapore Stock Exchange-listed bulk retailer in Southeast Asia.

The $ 2.5 billion Bapcor announced this morning to investors that it has around $ 12 million paid for the share. Tye Soon has 20 locations in Korea and Australia and another 18 in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Annual sales are SGD 200 (US $ 192 million).

« The complementary expertise of Tye Soon and Bapcor provides a number of opportunities for both companies to collaborate and grow their markets, » said Darryl Abotomey, CEO of Bapcor .

Tye Soon has particular strengths in the sale of original parts and spare parts as well as an excellent network of branches in fast-growing Southeast and Northeast Asian countries. Bapcor will soon be working with Tye to maximize opportunities to grow their businesses in Asia and Australasia. “

Bapcor shares closed 0.5 percent higher at $ 7.40 on Friday, but fell 4.9 percent year-to-date.

The big four banks, ANZ and CBA, announced that they have agreed to resolve the class action lawsuit against US interest rate manipulation brought against them and a group of other banks in 2016.

In a concise statement released on Monday was filed with the ASX, ANZ said the settlement was without liability, subject to negotiation, and the terms of the settlement were confidential and irrelevant.

The complaint was filed by two US-based mutual funds, the Sonterra Capital Master Fund and several Frontpoint Financial Funds, and noted trader Richard Dennis, known as the « Prince of the Pit ». in 2016.

The complainants were buyers of products based on the bank note swap rate, which was allegedly tampered with starting in 2003, causing them to lose millions of dollars.

The Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW) is one of the top interest rates in the economy and helps set the interest rate on large corporate loans.

The term « unparalleled » was a staple of investing slang earlier last year when the coronavirus pandemic wiped $ 850 billion off the Australian stock market in 32 days. But the market has put on quite a show since then.

Monday’s ASX session marks exactly one year since a COVID-induced router bottomed the local benchmark at 4402.5 points. This is the low point of a dive of almost 40 percent, which brought the index back to the level last reached in 2012. But 12 months later, the local exchange will start the session about 52 percent higher this week.

The ASX 200 hit a post-pandemic high of 6978.3 on February 25, hitting a market cap of $ 2.14 trillion – an increase of 59 percent from the lows of March last year. Photo credit: Louie Douvis

The index has gained ground in eleven of the last twelve months, adding around $ 700 billion in value thanks to low interest rates, a record flood of stimuli, and vaccination optimism.

« Flipping right now. » the markets reflect what I consider to be the greatest optimism, « says CMC Markets chief strategist Michael McCarthy.

 » We have this tremendous fiscal and monetary support and a big boom in the economy. There has never been a recovery like this.  » It’s historical.