Today's News - Tuesday 11 August 2020
Today's News - Tuesday 11 August 2020
Our Backyard
Tasmanians have received the biggest handout from federal government payments designed to stimulate the economy during the coronavirus shutdown.
Latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show one in three Australians has received a COVID-19 stimulus payment in May, with the southern island more likely to receive financial support.
According to the ABS, 47 per cent of Tasmanians had received funds, while 39 per cent of South Australians had accessed support money. Thirty-seven per cent of Queenslanders had also received stimulus payments.
Latest figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show nearly 4.1 million claims for early super have been lodged to the Australian Taxation Office and are expected to cost the system $31.5 billion.
Treasury is expecting $42 billion will be haemorrhaged from Australia’s near $3 trillion retirement pool.
At August 2, the average payment from a repeat applications stood at $8511, which is higher than the total payout average of $7695.
Federal officials will be shielded from direct scrutiny at the NSW inquiry into the Ruby Princess cruise ship amid accusations the Morrison government has failed to cooperate with the investigation.
The federal decision means the special commission will have to report without being able to question two federal officers who helped clear the ship to disembark 2700 passengers in Sydney in March.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised to cooperate with the inquiry on April 21 and insisted on Monday he had done so, but he did not explain why the two officials should not appear to give evidence.
Westpac has said it will implement new scam detection technology across its national network of bank branches, in an attempt to curb financial crimes and fraud.
Westpac’s new technology will send bank tellers real-time alerts as payments are being processed. If a transaction looks suspicious it will prompt an employee to ask a range of questions to help determine whether the customer wants to pause or decline a payment.
Major banks will reveal fresh details of the pandemic's effect on their multibillion-dollar loan portfolios, while boards are expected to remain conservative on dividends, as the coronavirus recession looms large over upcoming bank profit results.
Commonwealth Bank will deliver its full-year results on Wednesday, with analysts expecting cash profits from continuing operations fell to about $7.5 billion for the year to June, due in part to previously-announced bad debt charges.
National Australia Bank will provide a third-quarter trading update on Friday, and Westpac and ANZ Bank will next week unveil quarterly updates after suspending dividends several months ago.
Banks pencilled in almost $5 billion in COVID-related bad debt charges in their previous results in April and May.
Commercial property giant GPT has incurred a more than half a billion dollar financial haemorrhage, as the coronavirus pandemic has significantly slashed the value of its property portfolio.
The ASX-listed real estate investment trust posted an interim net loss of $519.1 million for the six months ending June 30, a 247.2 per cent plummet compared with the previous interim result in 2019.
GPT said the profit dent was due to the economic recession causing a total property portfolio devaluation of $711.3 million. Its funds from operations largely derived by tenant rental income fell 23.3 per cent over the period to $244.5 million.
Despite significant financial woes induced by the virus, GPT has issued an interim dividend distribution of 9.3 cents per security. The distribution represents 100 per cent of free cash flow.
More than half of people who increased their alcohol intake during Australia's first COVD-19 lockdown continued to drink at higher levels, and more than a third say they intend to keep drinking at the increased level.
Stress, anxiety, home-schooling and unemployment drove changes in drinking habits across the country during the national lockdown in March to May, and many people continue to drink at levels that may increase their risk of chronic disease.
Homewares retailer Adairs has reported a huge jump in sales and profit for the 2020 financial year, in part thanks to a significant stimulus from the government’s JobKeeper program.
Shares in the company soared as much as 16.7 per cent to a new all-time high of $3.24 after the retailer released its unaudited full-year accounts, which showed a 12.9 per cent jump in full-year sales to $388.9 million, with like-for-like sales rising 15.9 per cent. Adairs' shares finished the trading day up 11.3 per cent at $3.05.
Statutory net profit after tax rocketed up 19 per cent to $35.3 million, and Adairs' net debt reduced to just $1 million, down from $8.2 million at the end of the 2019 financial year.
ASX-listed Aurizon, which has a market capitalisation of about $8.9 billion, posted strong results for fiscal 2020, with its underlying net profit up 12 per cent to $531 million, ahead of Bloomberg consensus of $520.6 million. Statutory net profit rose 28 per cent to $605 million, helped by the sale of its rail grinding business for $105 million. Revenue for the period rose 5 per cent to $3.065 billion.
Aurizon will reward shareholders with a 13.7 cents per share final dividend (up 10 per cent), 70 per cent franked, on September 21 and a new $300 million buyback.
Gas companies will partner with Hyundai to supply refuelling infrastructure for hydrogen-powered cars in Australia next year in a bid to accelerate the take-up of the zero-emissions fuel technology.
Energy infrastructure giant Jemena and Wesfarmers-owned Coregas have been in talks with carmaker Hyundai to supply "green hydrogen" – generated from wind and energy power – for a re-filling station in Sydney's Macquarie Park.
Seafolly’s administrators have bought out struggling rival Jets after its parent company went into administration earlier this year.
Administrators Scott Langdon and Rahul Goyal announced this afternoon that the purchase of the competitor had been finalised over the weekend.
Spike in reckless 'selfie stunts' on Sydney trains during lockdown.
Sydney Trains has recorded more than 2600 incidents of trespassing in the past 12 months, prompting NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance to plead with the public to stop risking their lives to “chase social media likes”.
Some of the CCTV footage of the incidents reveals people jumping onto the back of trains and riding them through Sydney’s transport network.
World News
The Afghan Government has agreed to release 400 "hard-core" Taliban prisoners, paving the way for peace talks aimed at ending more than 19 years of war.
The release of the prisoners was one of the Taliban's conditions for it joining peace talks. Civilians and rights groups have expressed outrage at the militants' release.
Talks between the warring Taliban and Government will start in Doha this week, according to Western diplomats.
Moreover, an Afghan soldier who murdered three Australian soldiers while serving as a sergeant in the Afghan National Army is likely to walk free in the prisoner swap deal.
Hekmatullah, as he's known, has spent seven years in jail after murdering Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, Sapper James Martin and Private Robert Poate in August 2012.
The trio of Australians were playing cards at their base at Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province, when the rogue soldier turned on them — killing them, and injuring two other Australians.
Officials from the Department of Defence contacted the families of the three Australians on Friday, advising them it was likely Hekmatullah would be one of 5,000 prisoners released as part of peace negotiations between the Afghan Government and the Taliban.
The foreign ministries of five nations, including Australia, have urged the Hong Kong Government to hold elections as soon as possible.
In a joint letter, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States have called for the Legislative Council elections, which were to be held in September, to go ahead and for disqualified candidates to be reinstated.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced the Government had postponed the highly anticipated legislative elections by one year, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak.
Ms Lam, with the support of the Chinese Government, delayed the ballot last month.
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been arrested over suspected collusion with foreign forces under the new national security law, according to his top aide, in what is the highest-profile arrest yet under the legislation.
Mr Lai has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the Chinese-ruled city and an ardent critic of Beijing.
Malaysia's former finance minister has pleaded not guilty to a second corruption charge related to a $1.5 billion undersea tunnel project, slamming the case as a trumped-up charge by the new Government.
Lim Guan Eng, 59, was first charged on Friday with soliciting 10 per cent of potential profits in 2011 as a bribe for the project planned in northern Penang state. On Monday, he was accused of abusing his power as Penang chief minister to obtain 3.3 million ringgit ($1.09m) as inducement to help a local company secure the construction contract.
Lim Guan Eng says there is no evidence he received any money as a bribe. He may face a third charge on Tuesday. Each charge against Mr Lim carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years' jail and a fine.
Security forces have cracked down on protesters in Belarus as long-term President Alexander Lukashenko looked set to claim his sixth election win, despite rising discontent with his authoritarian rule and his management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. His opponent Svetlana Tikhanouskaya has led huge rallies in the lead-up to the election.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-10/belarus-election-win-alexander-lukashenko-protests/12541692
Beirut has witnessed a second day of violent anti-government demonstrations in the aftermath of the explosion that killed 158 people and injured thousands.
Thousands of demonstrators converged on Parliament Square and nearby Martyrs' Square in central Beirut, attempting to break into the cordoned-off area. An estimated 10,000 people gathered to protest against the government.
Protesters called for revolution, complaining of government inaction. The information and environment ministers have both resigned over the government's failure to carry out reforms.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-10/beirut-protesters-hurl-rocks-over-devastating-blast/12539964
Moreover, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his Government have resigned in the wake of the deadly blast that ripped through Beirut last week.
The announcement came on the third day of demonstrations in the capital, with protesters again hurling rocks and dodging tear gas in clashes with security forces.
Gunmen on motorcycles have killed six French aid workers, a Nigerien guide and a driver in a wildlife park in Niger, officials said.
The group had travelled to Kouré reserve in an area known as the Giraffe Zone, home to the only remaining population of West African giraffes, 65 kilometres south-east of Niamey, the capital.
But they had been there for less than an hour when they were shot, their car set aflame and their bodies left in the sand.
An Indonesian volcano spewed a giant ash cloud 5 kilometres into the sky on Monday in its second eruption in three days, emitting a thunderous noise and turning the sky dark, authorities and witnesses said.
The eruption of Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra comes after more than a year of inactivity and was the second since Saturday, as authorities warned residents and tourists about possible lava flows.
Covid-19
Queensland police are questioning two teenage girls at a Sunshine Coast shopping centre over alleged COVID-19 breaches.
The teenagers, one from New South Wales and one from the Sunshine Coast, were detained at the Noosa Civic Shopping Centre this afternoon.
The pair allegedly lied on their border declarations about being in a hotspot. The girls will be tested for coronavirus and are not showing symptoms.
American children haven’t been spared from the coronavirus ravaging the country, with records showing almost 100,000 kids have contracted COVID-19 in the past two weeks.
It comes as kids return to school across the country.
In a bid to keep the coronavirus in check, some schools and universities forcing students to wear masks and pledge not to go to parties or other social events.
COVID-19s has been detected at a second mine in Papua New Guinea, after an employee at the Lihir Mine owned by Newcrest Mining tested positive for the disease.
The 30-year-old male, who flew in from Port Moresby at the end of July, is among 26 confirmed cases reported on Sunday by the National Pandemic Control Centre in the capital Port Moresby.
The island nation has now reported a total of 214 coronavirus cases and three deaths.
- Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, star of The Mask of Zorro, Spy Kids, the Shrek series and dozens of other films, has revealed on his 60th birthday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in quarantine.
- A global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines formed earlier this year needs vastly more money, says World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
- The emergencies chief for the World Health Organization says COVID-19 doesn't seem to follow the seasonal patterns that some viruses exhibit, making it harder to control. Unlike other respiratory viruses like influenza that spread mainly in the winter, the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating in the northern hemisphere summer.
- Denmark's Health Minister, Magnus Heunicke, says the virus is "on its way back", and has announced local measures to contain it.
- North Korea's Red Cross has reportedly deployed 43,000 volunteers to help communities prevent outbreaks of coronavirus and provide flood assistance. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared an emergency last month and imposed a lockdown on Kaesong, near the inter-Korean border, after a man who defected to the South in 2017 returned to the city showing coronavirus symptoms.
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus
Property News
Riverina NSW – Acreage
Geoff McGilvray, a rural real estate agent with Elders, said the demand for farming properties in all categories at the moment was unprecedented.
The Texan owners of global gym chain Curves sold four farming properties in Gundagai worth a combined $18 million.
Rental vacancy rates in the region are the lowest in NSW, at 0.6 per cent.
Market News
Yesterday, Australian stocks end higher, with investors hopeful that the second wave of coronavirus infections in Victoria may have peaked.
The All Ordinaries index rose 1.7 per cent, or 102 points, to 6,247.
The ASX 200 index increased 1.8 per cent to 6,110.
However, the Australian dollar lost ground late in the day after earlier gains and at 4:50pm (AEST) was steady at 71.5 US cents.
The Commonwealth Bank rose 3.4 per cent to $73.98, National Australia Bank rose nearly 3 per cent to $17.46, ANZ gained 2.8 per cent and Westpac increased 3.3 per cent.
Biotech Mesoblast surged 10.7 per cent to $4.87.
Gold miners fell as spot gold slipped on a higher greenback to $US2,031.38 an ounce.
Resolute Mining fell 2.6 per cent to $1.33.
Plans by Qantas to raise $500 million from a share sale for retail investors have fallen short. The airline raised about $71.7 million from the capital raising, with just 5 per cent of 173,343 eligible shareholders taking up the offer and buying an average $8,200 worth of shares.
The competition watchdog has granted an emergency order to allow chicken processors to work with rivals to prevent food shortages during Victoria's COVID-19 lockdown.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has provided conditional interim authorisation to allow chicken producers Ingham's Group, Turosi, Hazeldene's Chicken Farm and industry body, the Australian Chicken Meat Federation, to work together.
The Dow Jones index rose nearly 0.2 per cent, or 47 points, to 27,434.
The S&P 500 was basically flat at 3,351, up just 2 points.
ASX futures up 1 point to 6071 at 6.24am AEST
AUD at 71.50 US cents at 6.35am AEST
On Wall St: Dow +1.3% S&P 500 +0.3% Nasdaq -0.4%
Spot gold -0.5% to $US2025.74 an ounce
Brent crude +1.4% to $US45.00 a barrel
US oil +2% to $US42.04 a barrel
10-year yield: US 0.57% Australia 0.86% Germany -0.53%
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/8-eight-asx-set-for-flat-start-a-dips-20200811-p55kgw.html
Michael Tran
Director Relationships
Judo Bank