The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
0225 GMT - Chinese President Xi Jinping's attendance at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference underlines the strategic importance Beijing attaches to AI, Diana Choyleva at Enodo Economics says in a note. AI serves as a driver of economic growth, industrial upgrading and geopolitical influence for China, the economist says. "China is not only trying to narrow the gap in computing power, but also to shape global governance and promote its open-source models as a lower-cost alternative to Western systems," she writes. However, as Beijing presents openness and accessibility as competitive strengths of open-source models, Choyleva notes it maintains tight political control over data, content and commercial applications. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)
0204 GMT - Com7 is likely to post 2Q earnings growth of 22%, driven by solid performance from its IT retail and other businesses, UOB Kay Hian's Tanapon Cholkadidamrongkul says in a research report. Its retail business' sales should grow 9% in 2Q, aided by higher product prices and resilient demand, the analyst says. The Thailand IT products retailer's other businesses also continue to outperform, the analyst adds. Moreover, Apple's price increase for some of its products could spark demand as consumers quicken purchases, which is positive for Com7. The brokerage raises the stock's target price to 32.50 baht from 30.00 baht with unchanged buy rating. Shares last closed at 30.00 baht. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)
0156 GMT - Relatively poor take-up at a Singapore housing project launch doesn't signal a slowdown in the private residential sector, says Citi Research's Brandon Lee in a note. The around 54% initial take-up rate for the project launched over the weekend is the second lowest of 10 projects released year to date, and below the average rate of 75%, he notes. However, this is likely due to the project's limited amenities and the high supply of new units in the enclave it is located in, the analyst says. The Singapore residential sector still offers healthy fundamentals, including soft mortgage rates and growing household income, he says. Among Singapore-listed developers, Citi prefers City Developments due to valuations and its higher number of share-price catalysts. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)
0149 GMT - WiseTech Global's bull at Bell Potter wonders whether the logistics-software provider might be the next relatively large-cap Australian stock to rally. With an unchanged buy rating on the stock, analyst Chris Savage tells clients in a note that worries over its former executive chair's personal life and on potential earnings risks should start to dissipate over the coming months. The former is being addressed with the appointment of a new chair and Savage thinks the latter should follow next month, when he expects WiseTech to achieve its fiscal 2026 guidance. He acknowledges some risk on revenue but thinks this will be offset by margin strength. Bell Potter keeps a target price of 71.75 Australian dollars on the stock, which is down 2.7% at A$34.00. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
0129 GMT - Australian wealth platform Hub24 is one of the stocks Morgan Stanley analysts recommend keeping an eye on over the coming reporting season. The MS analysts point out that the recent share-price decline has come amid a broader derating of Australian technology stocks, but that consensus expectations for Hub24 earnings have continued to creep higher. They tell clients in a note that regulatory barriers offer protection against increased competition, and that expectations for June-quarter flows have moderated thanks to commentary at rival Netwealth that Middle East uncertainty and tax changes are having an impact. MS has an unchanged overweight rating on the stock and a target price of 120.00 Australian dollars. Shares are up 2.4% at A$85.21. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
0126 GMT - China is working on embedding AI into tangible applications and physical systems, Citi analysts say in a note after visiting the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. The analysts think one of the key highlights is the showcase of over 300 robots collaborating on real-world tasks. These robots demonstrate "AI's shift from the digital world to physical applications in manufacturing, daily life, and entertainment," they say. Among notable AI products at the exhibit, the analysts highlight Baidu's general-purpose agent, DuMate, which can search for information, write code, build applications, Kingsoft Cloud Holdings' WPS Lingxi, an AI office assistant, among others.(sherry.qin@wsj.com)
0107 GMT - Zip's bull at Citi sees potential for the Australian payments provider to beat his full-year earnings forecast on operating costs. Maintaining a buy rating on the stock, analyst Siraj Ahmed tells clients in a note that Citi's analysis of company hiring activity points to a slowdown, which could result in lower-than-expected operating costs for the 12 months through June 2026. Pointing to stronger U.S. volume growth and transaction margins, Ahmed raises his fiscal 2026 cash earnings forecast to 265 million Australian dollars. Citi raises its target price by 37% to A$3.55. Shares are down 1.2% at A$2.945. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
0100 GMT - Casino operator SkyCity Entertainment has taken time to realize value from its property portfolio. The plan was first outlined in February 2025. Now, SkyCity is selling properties at 99 Albert Street and Victoria Street for NZ$74.5 million. Forsyth Barr estimates it reduces pro-forma FY 2026 net debt to Ebitda by 30 basis points. Still, analyst Paul Laxton Koraua says it's "an important step toward easing market concerns on the execution of its asset sale program and supporting the removal of S&P's negative watch on its credit rating." The next meaningful potential sale is The Grand Hotel in Auckland. Forsyth Barr estimates it could fetch NZ$200 million-NZ$250 million. It has an outperform call on SkyCity, which is up 0.9% at NZ$0.575. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
0056 GMT - Global financial markets are likely facing a "triple whammy," Mizuho Securities (Singapore)'s Vishnu Varathan says in an email. First, the "U.S.-Iran conflict escalation [is] teetering on a hot Middle East war," the head of Macro Strategy for APAC says. Second, there are "AI shivers amid overheated valuation worries - triggered by China's Moonshot [AI]," which released the Kimi K3 large language model, he notes. Third, there are "hawkish Fed bets amid worries of hot and sticky inflation," Varathan says. "The threat of a sweltering summer meltdown cannot be dismissed, given the triple-whammy," Varathan adds. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)
0055 GMT - Port of Tauranga no longer has a bull in Forsyth Barr after its shares hit a record high recently. Analyst Andy Bowley flags a softer volume backdrop during the final months of FY 2026. Stats NZ data suggest bulk cargo tonnage weakened through 2H, led by log exports. "That said, the company remains on track to achieve its 7% return-on-invested-capital target on operational assets in FY27 and has scope to justifiably lift returns higher over the medium term," Forsyth Barr says. The company's recently published tariff schedule points to another year of robust earnings growth. Forsyth Barr downgrades Port of Tauranga to neutral, from outperform, as an enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiple of 20X looks relatively expensive. Port of Tauranga falls 0.8% at NZ$8.68. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
0046 GMT - Drinks-to-hotels group Endeavour gets a new bear in Morgan Stanley, which worries that risks to earnings are being compounded by ongoing capital constraints. MS downgrades Endeavour to underweight, from equal-weight. Its price target falls 6.3% to A$3.00/share. "A sales recovery likely requires ongoing price investment, leaving earnings quality lower and limiting scope for a re-rating until sales (and then margins) stabilize," analyst Melinda K. Baxter says. Endeavour falls 4.4% to A$3.29. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
0045 GMT - Regis Resources' 2H dividend is likely to surprise the market positively, reckons Macquarie. It forecasts a final payout of A$0.18/share. That's some 15% higher than consensus expectations of A$0.157/share. It equates to a FY 2026 dividend yield of 6.0%, which Macquarie describes as exceptional for a gold stock. "Additionally, in an upside scenario where we increased our dividend payout ratio to 50% this would increase our forecast 2HFY26 dividend of A$0.25 (59% above Visible Alpha of A$0.157) and lifting FY26 dividend yield to 7.1%," Macquarie says. It has an outperform call on Regis. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 19, 2026 22:25 ET (02:25 GMT)
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