A continued booster from CSL was enough to keep the market in positive territory on Thursday despite Wesfarmers and Telstra results as well as investor concerns about geopolitical tensions weighing on the Australian market.
The ASX200 shot up at the open of the session and rose by nearly 1 per cent during mid-morning, before losing some steam as the afternoon wore on.
The benchmark index ultimately finished up 0.16 per cent or 11.3 points to 7296.2 points, lifted by the healthcare, energy and utilities sectors.
However, the consumer discretionary, communication services and tech sectors were major drags on the local bourse, with all three down by roughly 3 per cent or more.
But it was geopolitical tensions that saw the ASX200 lose its gains from earlier in the day, said Wilson Asset Management senior investment analyst Shaun Weick.
“The move in the afternoon is pretty much explained by the Russia-Ukraine situation,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
On Thursday afternoon, news emerged that the US was accusing Russia of deploying a further 7,000 troops to the border even as Moscow claimed a “partial” pullback of forces.
“You saw the market later in the day jump back into gold and defensives and rotate out of more high-beta [companies], tech and whatnot,” Mr Weick said.
The day had started strong off the back of Wall Street’s lead overnight, he added.
“But this afternoon’s sell-off reflected more macro-driven factors and potential re-escalation around those geopolitical environments.“
Intellectual property services group IPH was the top performer all day and saw its share price rise by nearly 10 per cent to $9.03.
Target and Kmart were not the only sources of bad news for Wesfarmers with Bunnings earnings declining for the first time in at least a decade. Credit:Eddie Jim
Investment manager Challenger was runner-up, ticking up 6.65 per cent.
Biotech giant CSL, with a market cap of $134 billion, was one of several players that helped lift the index, finishing the day up 5.05 per cent.
Meanwhile, Wesfarmers was the poorest performer of the day, ending Thursday down 7.48 per cent after revealing a 14.2 per cent loss in the December half due to huge profit dips across its Kmart, Target and Officework brands.
Domain Group’s share price slid by 6.22 per cent despite announcing a 14.2 per cent rise in earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation and a 2.4 per cent increase in net profits. Gains were hamstrung by a one-off $6.6 million charge that largely related to restructuring costs.
Afterpay owner Block was also a major loser of the day, sliding 6.4 per cent. Novonix and Pro Medicus were both down by more than 6 per cent.