Already a subscriber?Better than expected earnings from some of the country’s largest listed companies have buoyed the sharemarket, with strong dividends and signs that consumers were still spending fuelling a rapid recovery from a shock sell-off earlier this month.
Strong dividends and margins from major banks had also helped return confidence to investors and push the index back near record highs in a matter of weeks. “There definitely will be downgrades for FY25 and probably bigger than they’ve been for a while,” he said. “This is all against the background of the market at record highs … I think history would tell you that the market rarely trades at this level.”The state of Australia’s retailers was front and centre of this reporting season, as investors eagerly awaited signs of consumer behaviour, which has continued to weigh on investment in the sector for much of the year.
That sentiment was echoed by Ms Jorritsma, who said that expectations coming into earnings season for much of the consumer sector were already low. However, while commodity prices largely drove share prices, Ms Jorritsma notes that surging costs that hit the sector earlier in the year were showing signs of easing.
after the miner ditched its dividend for the first time in more than a decade in an effort to preserve cash and shore up its balance sheet.At the other end of the market, it was technology, which soared more than 10 per cent, retaining its position as the best performing of the ASX’s 11 sectors.