Daily FNArena News - Australia

Buoyant sentiment; tech leads the way; earnings and raisings; new highs in commodities; mixed data.

Iress has taken the opportunity to raise capital to more than provide for its purchase of OneVue Holdings, targeting scale in superannuation and funds management solutions.

The Star Entertainment Group will re-open its Sydney casino and has also reached an agreement with the NSW government for future tax rates.

Demand for services provided by Appen is robust, given data annotation is critical to large technology companies amid the surge in demand for e-commerce.

A much better 2021 is forecast for Costa Group, as citrus recovers and strong prices hold out for mushrooms. Tomato demand is also expected to recover with the return to school.

Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has outlined an increase in provisioning related to the pandemic and brokers welcome the extra buffer in a deteriorating economic environment.

FNArena’s Monitor keeps track of corporate earnings result releases, including broker views, ratings and target price changes and beat/miss assessments.

As the economy re-opens defensive Australian A-REITs are expected to perform, with an increasing focus on industrial themes, while there are some significant risks facing the retail segment.

ALS Ltd has acted quickly to manage the economic downturn but a robust recovery in sample flows and testing is expected as lockdowns measures are unwound.

Service Stream has been hampered by the pandemic, having to add costs to ensure the safe delivery of field-based operations. On the positive side, the company is confident it will maintain its progressive dividend policy.