Markets Live: ASX set for a breather, CSL, Wesfarmers earnings eyed

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9:17am

Wesfarmers' annual bottom-line profit plunged 58.3 per cent to $1.19 billion after the conglomerate booked $1.4 billion in losses and write-downs from discontinued operations including its disastrous foray into the UK hardware market and wrote down the value of Target by $300 million.

Excluding impairment charges and one-off items, Wesfarmers' underlying net profit from continuing operations rose 5.2 per cent to $2.9 billion in the year ended June 30 - beating consensus forecasts of about $2.78 billion - as double-digit profit growth at Bunnings, Kmart and its remaining industrial businesses offset a weak first-half result at Coles.

Underlying earnings before interest and tax from continuing operations rose 4.5 per cent to $4.3 billion - compared with consensus forecasts of $4.23 billion - with Bunnings earnings rising 12.7 per cent to $1.5 billion, department store profits up 21.5 per cent to $660 million, Officeworks up 8.3 per cent to $156 million and industrials up 13.1 per cen tto $680 million.

Coles' EBIT fell 6.8 per cent to $1.5 billion for the year - beating forecasts between $1.27 billion and $1.49 billion - as a 14 per cent fall in first-half earnings offset a 3 per cent improvement in the June-half.

Wesfarmers kept its final dividend steady at $1.20, taking the full-year payout to $2.23, in line with that in 2017.

Sue Mitchell reports

9:07am

Australian biotherapeutics company CSL Ltd reported a near 30 percent rise in annual net profit on Wednesday, thanks to strong drug sales in the United States.

CSL posted a net profit of $1.73 billion for the year ended June 30, roughly in line with an estimate of $1.72 billion from an aggregate of seven analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company's forecast was $1.68 billion to $1.71 billion.

The global pharma firm also announced a final dividend of $0.93 per share, compared to the $0.72 per share paid last year.

CSL had raised its annual profit guidance twice since it last reported full-year results and forecast a fiscal 2019 net profit between $1.88 billion and $1.95 billion on Wednesday.

Revenue from CSL's Pennsylvania-based Behring grew by more than 13 percent and accounted for more than 86 percent of CSL's haul this year.

CSL's Seqirus, the world's second largest influenza vaccines firm, broke even three years after it was created to report earnings before interest and tax of $52.4 million this year, helped by seasonal vaccine sales in the United States.

Seqirus had reported a loss of $179.4 million last year.

- Reuters

9:05am

Wall Street's three major indexes rose overnight, with the S&P 500 posting its strongest gain in three weeks as a string of healthy earnings boosted investor optimism and a rebound in the Turkish lira eased fears of a broader financial contagion.

Gains were widespread on Tuesday, and the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended four-day losing streaks.

The Turkish lira regained some ground a day after it plunged to an all-time low. The rebound came as the country's central bank took steps to ease pressure on the currency.

Shares of major US banks reversed course on easing Turkey fears, with the S&P financial sector closing the session up 0.9 per cent.

Investors also focused on second-quarter results, as the reporting season draws closer to the finish line. So far, of 458 companies in the S&P 500 that have posted results, 79 per cent have topped Wall Street estimates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.22 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 25,299.92, the S&P 500 gained 18.03 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 2,839.96 and the Nasdaq Composite added 51.19 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 7,870.89.

Tesla's shares dropped 2.5 per cent after the company said a special committee formed to negotiate taking electric car maker private had yet to see a firm offer from CEO Elon Musk.

- Reuters

9:05am

All the overnight market action in numbers:

SPI futures down 7 points to 6239
AUD at US73.37¢
On Wall St: Dow +0.6% S&P 500 +0.7% Nasdaq +0.7%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 unchgd FTSE -0.4% CAC -0.2% DAX unchgd
Spot gold +0.1% to $US1194.50 an ounce
Brent crude -0.2% to $US72.47 a barrel
Iron ore -0.7% at $US68.02 a tonne

On the economic agenda today:

June quarter wage price index

Westpac August monthly consumer confidence index;

China July house prices

US July retail sales

July industrial production.

Stocks to watch:

Companies reporting: Wesfarmers, CSL, IAG, Fairfax Media
Challenger Downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan
Lovisa Downgraded to Sell at Canaccord

9:05am

Good morning and welcome to the Markets Live blog for Wednesday.

Your editor today is Sarah Turner.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.

Fairfax Media with wires.