The XJO finished down 9.9 points or 0.12% lower this week, 1.8% from its intraweek low and just 0.12% from its intraweek high.
The winning stocks from Monday to Friday were led by James Hardie (ASX:JHX) Industries adding 16.59%, Block Inc. (ASX:SQ2) rising 15.01% and Megaport (ASX:MP1) gaining 12.43%.
On the losing end, Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) tanked 25%, Healius(ASX:HLS) lost 15.77%, Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) lost 13.64%.
This week, we saw Australia’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), soar to a fresh record high after the big bank released a quarterly trading update. For the 1Q FY25, CBA reported unaudited statutory NPAT of approximately $2.5bn which is flat on the PCP. Business lending volumes rose 9.9% in quarter, home lending rose 4.5%, and household deposits rose 6.5%. Operating income increased 3.5% while troublesome and impaired assets increased to $8.8bn or 0.63% of total committed exposures. The outlook from the big bank is that while inflation is showing signs of easing, growth in the Australian economy remains slow, but the bank remains optimistic on the overall outlook for the Australian economy’s strength. Shares in CBA rose 2.06% over the trading week to end Thursday’s session at a fresh record $152.84.
Building materials producer James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX) bucked the market weakness this week to gain over 13% on the release of the company’s second quarter trading update. Despite outlining profit dropped 23% in Q2FY25 results out yesterday due to weakness in Europe and China, while its North American division, the key driver of revenue, is expected to continue growing into FY26. With tailwinds in the US from hurricanes, increased wear-and-tear of homes requiring siding replacement, and an uptick in new home builds in the region, we see James Hardie’s earnings growth runway expanding well into the new year.
Xero (ASX:XRO) shares popped on Thursday after the cloud accounting software released a first half trading update demonstrating the company’s strength in delivering growth despite a challenging market environment. For the first half of FY25, Xero reported revenue rose 25% to NZ$996m, a 6% rise in subscribers overall, average revenue per user rose 15%, free cash flow rose 96%, gross margin rose 1.4pp (%points) and NPAT increased an impressive 76% to $95m. Xero also launched the first Tap and Pay product to the market during the period which is allows Aussie and UK small businesses to accept instant payments from their smartphone. And the strength doesn’t stop there for Xero as the cloud accounting giant launched several Beta products in the AI space including Xero’s GenAI-powered smart business companion, ‘Just Ask Xero’.
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