The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1824 ET - BWP Trust's shares could re-rate if Wesfarmers decides to sell its 23.5% stake in the industrial property owner, Macquarie says. Wesfarmers's stake is worth A$630 million. "Given the level of capital demand in the sector and the low average value of large format retail assets (less than A$50 million), a strategic holder could get exposure to a scale portfolio in a single tranche," Macquarie says. BWP Trust last year completed the internalization of its management functions. In the wake of that move "we believe there is limited strategic rationale for the holding," Macquarie says. It starts coverage of BWP Trust at outperform with a A$3.90/share price target. BWP Trust ended last week at A$3.70. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1809 ET - Amplitude Energy's next well is effectively a must-win for the growth thesis, says Morgans. Amplitude recently said the natural-gas discovery by the Isabella-1 well couldn't be developed commercially. Analyst Adrian Prendergast says Amplitude's balance sheet and A$100 million of Ebitdax in 1H buy it time. "Our view on value in Amplitude has been dented, but not destroyed," Morgans says. Still, it retains a buy call. "While it is hard to ignore such large short-term catalysts, we keep coming back to our value on Amplitude's existing production of A$2.75/share, which remains a high-watermark, low-case valuation for the stock," Morgans says. Amplitude ended last week at A$1.59/share, roughly half of Morgans's new A$3.00/share price target. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1759 ET - Investors in Australian mall owner Scentre should be alert to an elevated level of interest-rate hedges due to expire in FY 2027, says UBS. Analyst Solomon Zhang says Scentre's interest rate hedging will fall to 38%, from 82%, over the 12 months through December 2027. "This means A$5.7 billion of interest rate hedges--which happen to have very low hedge rates of 2.6%--will expire in 2027 and step up to higher floating base rates (BBSW)," UBS says. It estimates this will create a A$100 million cost headwind across 2027/2028. UBS retains a sell call and A$3.50/share price target on Scentre, which ended last week at A$3.36. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1729 ET - Australian refineries can only meet a fraction of domestic fuel demand, says Jefferies. The conflict in Iran is driving up prices of gasoline and diesel, with Australia's competition regulator concerned about supply issues in areas including city suburbs, regional towns and remote areas. Jefferies estimates Australia's refinery production can meet some 37% of gasoline demand and only around 14% of diesel demand. That's based on an analysis of Australian Petroleum Statistics data for last year. "Even in Queensland and Victoria, where Ampol and Viva Energy have refineries respectively, production at Lytton and Geelong is insufficient to meet total state demand for either gasoline or diesel," analyst Michael Simotas says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1728 ET - Australian stocks look set to continue their downward slide after a weekend in which the Middle East conflict showed no sign of abating. Local equities futures are down by 0.8% ahead of Monday's session. That suggests the S&P/ASX 200 will extend the 7.4% deficit compiled so far this month as investors fret about resurgent inflation, interest-rate rises, and potential fuel shortages. The benchmark index bounced 1.0% across last week, but remains on course for its heaviest monthly loss since June 2022. U.S. indices fell Friday, providing a weak lead for global equities. Ahead of the open, BlueScope Steel appointed Robin Davies as boss of its Australia and New Zealand operations. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 29, 2026 18:24 ET (22:24 GMT)
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