Reporting season live updates: Everything you need to know about companies revealing results to the ASX today

Major players in electronics, health, steel and wine gave investors plenty of fat to chew Monday as a jam-packed week of reporting kicked off.

The local tech sector made back some ground on heavy losses last week, pulling the ASX200 to a 0.22 per cent gain, adding 19.5 points to 8937.1.

Materials were the main laggards on Monday. Singapore iron ore futures hit multi-month lows, dragging BHP’s share price down 1.5 per cent.

Rio Tinto suspended operations at an iron ore mine in Guinea after the death of a worker, and shares fell 4.1 per cent.

Fortescue slumped 4.7 per cent and Bluescope fell 2.7 per cent.

Gold prices gained ground over the weekend, lifting Northern Star Resources 0.3 per cent on Monday, though Evolution Mining lost 1.6 per cent and Gold Corporation fell 0.1 per cent.

Australian gold advisers, Dorex, point to keenly awaited US economic data as sustaining the prices.

“Gold futures briefly pushed back above the key $US5000 per ounce mark, with April futures settling around $US5079.40 per ounce, driven by a softer US dollar, continued macro uncertainty and renewed central bank buying narratives,” analysis from the firm says.

“At levels just above the psychologically significant $US5000/ounce mark, bullion appears to be consolidating while retaining a constructive underlying tone.”

Rail transporter Aurizon lifted seven per cent on abandonment of plans to sell a stake in its Queensland rail network. Interim dividends also lifted one-third to 12.5c.

A2 Milk lifted full-year revenue projections on an 18 per cent rise in first-half revenue, prompting a 6.8 per cent rise in the share price.

Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates took a 5.1 per cent dip after reporting a first-half $649m loss and scrapping interim dividends.

Medical protective equipment manufacturer Ansell has swung the cost-cutting axe to offset US tariff losses, posting surprising profit results and gaining 3.8 per cent on Monday.

Shoppers treated themselves at JB Hi-Fi across the end of year sales, buoying the share price by 7.5 per cent.

EToro analyst Zavier Wong says with this year’s likely rate hikes, positivity for JB Hi-Fi and other bellwether retail stocks had dimmed.

“Sales growth will likely moderate through the second half as the rate hike starts to bite and with January figures already weak off the mark, these results should give some pause to other retail stalwarts.”

Tuesday’s RBA minutes and Thursday’s employment data are expected to reinforce the central bank’s decision to hike earlier this month, Mr Wong said.

“Expectations are for a much softer January (unemployment) print, with consensus pointing to around 10,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate ticking back up to 4.3 per cent. Even if Thursday’s number does soften, the broader picture hasn’t changed.

“The RBA has been clear that demand is running ahead of supply and labour market conditions remain tight. A weaker print may take some heat out of the rate hike debate in the near term, but it would take a sustained shift to meaningfully change the RBA’s outlook from here.”

Markets are predicting a 91 per cent chance of a cash rate hold next month.

On the back of weeks of falling tech prices here and on Wall Street, New York-listed Synnex opened its new purpose-built warehouse outside Melbourne.

Buyers were seeing value in the dented tech prices, with the local tech sector being the big winner on the day, gaining 5.6 per cent.

All three major US indices finished the week lower, and US markets will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day public holiday.

Australian vintner Treasury Wine Estates shares fell to a seven-week low after revenue missed expectations following US supply chain difficulties and adverse consumer trends in China.

Shares in Treasury Wine fell as much as 6.5 per cent before paring some of the decline. The maker of the iconic Penfolds brand said net sales revenue in the six months through December was $1.3 billion, down 16 per cent from a year earlier and below analyst expectations for $1.38b.

The company reported a $649 million net loss for the period, compared with a $221m profit.

Treasury has temporarily suspended its interim dividend to “prioritise the preservation of capital and reduce leverage”. The resumption of the dividend will depend on financial performance, the company said in a statement on Monday.

CEO Sam Fischer, who started in October, said in a statement that despite Monday’s results, he was encouraged that the wine company’s key brands were resonating with consumers as he undertakes the transformation.

“We are already making meaningful progress with the decisive actions required to return to a path of sustainable, profitable growth,” he said.

Genesis Minerals has sealed a $639 million cash and scrip deal to acquire Magnetic Resources, adding a two-million ounce, high-grade mineral resource to its gold inventory around Laverton in the northern Goldifelds.

Shares in Genesis shot up 4.5 per cent to $7.18 in early trade on news of the binding scheme implementation deed, which will see the Raleigh Finlayson-led miner buy out 100 per cent of Magnetic.

The agreement is priced at $1.40 cash a share and 0.0873 new Genesis shares, implying a value of $2 for each Magnetic share.

The deal gives Genesis the neighbouring Lady Julie gold project and its mineral resource of about 2.2moz of gold grading 1.8g/t.

Genesis said it also offers a clear pathway to supply incremental open pit and underground ore to it 3 million-tonne-a year Laverton mill, which lies about 20km away.

“This transaction creates substantial value for both groups of shareholders, delivering genuine synergies while combining the right assets with the right people,” Genesis chair Mr Finlayson said.

“Magnetic’s Lady Julie gold project will add more than 2Moz at an attractive high grade to Genesis’ Laverton inventory, further bolstering the mine life and production outlook.

“Shareholders of both companies will benefit by leveraging Genesis’ existing infrastructure, including the 3Mtpa Laverton mill, and through the savings which would flow from a single open pit development.”

Rail operator Aurizon has posted a modest profit increase and ditched plans to sell off a stake in its networks business unit.

Profit was up $22 million to $237m for the first half.

That was aided by higher volumes in the coal and bulk freight divisions.

On the west coast, Aurizon launched a four-year contract with Yilgarn Iron late last year carrying the steelmaking commodity to Esperance.

Aurizon had mulled selling its network division, which owns rail tracks on the east coast, but has opted to keep it in house.

Analysis found spinning out the business would cost more and lose a stable earnings stream.

The IMF has called on Australia to cut corporate and income taxes and raise the GST to address chronically poor productivity that risks saddling the nation with years of poor economic growth and high inflation.

“Specifically, reductions of corporate and labor taxes would improve incentives for investment and work and could be offset by an increase in indirect taxation,” it said.

This would be financed by raising the Goods and Services Tax from the current level of 10 per cent.

“Moreover, tax reforms can help support growth by shifting the tax burden away from the current reliance on capital and labor, and increasing reliance on indirect taxes,” the IMF said.

With economists expecting another interest rate rise in several months’ time, the IMF forecast that Australia’s economy would grow by just 2.1 per cent in 2026, a level well below the three-decade average of 3 per cent, and remain at weak levels out to 2031.

Inflation, now at 3.8 per cent, wasn’t expected to return to the midpoint of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 2-3 per cent target until “the latter half of 2027”.

WA teenagers will miss out on about $36 million in superannuation contributions this year because of an outdated law, prompting fresh calls to scrap the legal carve-out for under-18s.

Under existing laws, under-18 workers are only legally guaranteed super if they work more than 30 hours a week for one employer.

While this exclusion was initially made to prevent fees eroding super accounts with low amounts, industry body Super Members Council argues the rationale no longer stacks up given existing fee protections for small balances.

New analysis from the council revealed 54,000 under-18 workers in WA would miss out on an average of $655 each in super this financial year.

About 515,000 workers nationally will be excluded from a combined $405m.

Read the full story here

Gold has slipped as traders took profits after mild US inflation data pushed the metal back above $US5000 an ounce.

Bullion was near $US5020 in early trading, after climbing 2.4 per cent in the previous session.

The US consumer price index rose 0.2 per cent in January, allaying concerns about a bigger jump and boosting the case for the Federal Reserve to trim rates. Lower borrowing costs typically benefit non-yielding precious metals.

Gold surged to a record above $US5595 in late January as a wave of speculative buying pushed the rally to breaking point, before an abrupt rout at the turn of the month pulled it back below $US4500. In choppy trading, the metal has regained roughly half of its losses since then.

In China, markets are closed this week for the Lunar New Year holiday. Demand for precious metals in the country has been frenetic in recent months, prompting authorities in the retail hub of Shenzhen to issue a stark warning against “illegal gold-trading activities”.

Spot gold fell 0.5 per cent to $US5017.76/oz on Monday morning.

Silver slid 2.1 per cent to $US75.82/oz Platinum and palladium also traded lower.

The S&P/ASX200 has eked out a small gain after the first hour of trade, up 9 points to 8926.6.

Henderson-headquartered shipbuilder Austal has been the day’s biggest winner so far after a more than $600 million sell-off on Friday following reports of an accounting error in its US division that pushed out profit forecasts.

Its shares were up 14 per cent to $5.56 by 11am AEDT - halving loses after Friday’s rout.

WiseTech Global (up 8.7 per cent), The a2 Milk Co. (up 8.2 per cent), Light and Wonder (up 5.7 per cent) and Xero (up 5.6 per cent) were the other best performers.

Nick Scali, Fortescue, Alcoa, IGO and AMP were the market laggards - down between 2.3 per cent and 5.7 per cent.

All 11 sectors bar financials, utilities and materials were in positive territory.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has reported a 3.3 per cent fall in profit as business and mortgage lending weakened in the first half.

The regional bank said on Monday that cash earnings for the six months to December 31 dropped 3.3 per cent to $256.4 million.

The bank’s share of the residential lending market fell to 2.61 per cent from 2.79 per cent on a year earlier, while its business share dipped to 1.21 per cent from 1.28 per cent.

Its operating expenses for the half rose 6.4 per cent.

Bendigo held its interim dividend steady at a fully franked 30 cents a share.

Its shares were off 1.3 per cent at $11.32 as at 7.45am.

Investors have surged back into Austal shares after the naval shipbuilder lost as much as 28 per cent on Friday off the back of an accounting bungle at its US business.

The stock was nearly 12 per cent better at $5.45 as at 7.50am on Monday as investors capitalised on the fall to buy back into a company that was trading at record highs near $9 just last month.

The group revealed after the close of the market on Thursday that its profit guidance for the 2026 financial year had been inflated by $24m by double-counting of milestone shipbuilding incentives from the US Navy.

Its expected profit for the year to June 30 was subsequently slashed 18 per cent to $110m before interest and tax.