Commonwealth Bank goes ex-dividend today and the stock is down 2.52 per cent to $71.48. The dividend is $2 and shares are down $1.87. Other large banks are higher with Australia & New Zealand Bank up 1.4 per cent to $26.84, Westpac up 1.2 per cent to $26.52, and National Australia Bank up 1 per cent to $24.46.

Macquarie Group is at a four-and-a-half-month high of $126.93, very close to breaching fresh historical highs. The millionaire's factory highest price ever is $129.40 31 August, 2018.

Morgan Stanley analysts have given Macquarie a target price of $133 after yesterday's market update.

"Macquarie Group has reaffirmed guidance of fiscal year 19 estimated earnings increasing "up to 15%" year on year consistent with our expectations," the analysts wrote.

"However, the strong flows in asset management come as a positive surprise given the recent challenging conditions for the

Campbell Neal's K2 Asset Management Holdings reports a 111 per cent drop in profit this morning and has cancelled dividends for the second time in a row. The massive drop in profit is due to performance fees dropping from $7.6 million to $10,768 in the six months to December 2018.

Revenue dropped from $10.8 million in 2017 to $2.7 million in 2018 for the six-month period, made up of management fees and interest.

K2's Australian Small Cap Fund and Select International Absolute Return Fund were the only funds to out-perform the index, but both still made negative returns of -10.7 per cent and -2.3 per cent respectively.

Australian gold producer Evolution Mining has reported a 25.6 per cent fall in its statutory profit after income tax for the first half, to $91.1 million, which it attributed mainly to the impact of non-cash related items. Shares are down by 4 cents to $3.80, a drop of about 1 per cent.

Evolution said non-cash related items reduced its before income tax profit by $35.3 million, while cash related items lowered its profit by $11.3 million. Evolution's statutory profit before tax was down $43 million compared to the prior corresponding period.

The miner left its full year production and cost guidance unchanged, adding that it was expecting an "improved operational performance" for the second half of fiscal 2019.

Evolution also cited current gold prices as something that would give it a lift in the second half. "In addition, the gold price is currently $A155 per ounce higher than the achieved price for the half-year to December 2018 of $A1,695 per ounce," it said.

Carsales shares have dropped $1 to $11.16 in morning trading, a fall of 8.4 per cent, after it reported a 2 per cent decline in net profit after tax to $11.1 million for the first half compared to the same period last year. The reported revenue was up 17 per cent over to $235 million. Chief executive Cameron McIntyre has blamed the banking royal commission for continued difficulties in the vehicle sales site's financing division though expects "moderate" growth in profit over the second half of 2019.

For the first half of 2019, the car selling website's reported net profit after tax was down 82 per cent to 11.1 million compared to 2018, largely as a result of a $47.8 million impairment in its car financing business Stratton. Mr McIntyre said this was due to legislative changes affecting lending and the tighter credit market.

Read the full story from Jennifer Duke here

Earnings were up slightly at Bapcor, but slowing sals saw shares fall heavily in morning trading, down 9.3 per cent to $5.82.

The company's stores, which include Autobarn and Burson, saw sales growth drop from 4.4 per cent in 2018 to 2.1 per cent in the six months ending December 2018. Bapcor expects the retail softness "to continue for the remainder" of 2018-19. It is forecasting 9 per cent growth in net profit for the full year, which is "at the low end of previous market guidance".

Including Bapcor's sale of its TRS tyre and wheel business, revenue is up 3.2 per cent to $636.1 million and post-tax profit is up 6.6 per cent to $43.1 million.

Oil and gas company Beach Energy has seen its profits and revenues jump more than 100 per cent as it rode the wave of the oil boom and has likely become Australia's largest oil producer. Beach's profit has increased by 196 per cent for its 2019 first-half results, rising from $96 million in 2018 to $279 million in 2019. Shares are up 4.7 per cent in early trading to $1.77.

The company has also lifted its earnings guidance by around $200 million, to reach between $1.25 billion and $1.35 billion for the financial year. In October, the oil price reached its highest point since 2015, rising to $US86 a barrel, before it tumbled over again over November and December. The group has been on a sharp growth trajectory since it acquired Origin subsidiary Lattice Energy for $1.6 billion in late 2017, transforming itself from an energy minnow to a major player overnight.

Full story from Cole Latimer will be online soon

The market has opened with a small drop, but is now rising on gains in Westpac, ANZ, and NAB. The S&P/ASX 200 is at 6086 right now.

Investors are not happy with the CSL results and shares are down 2.5 per cent to $188.91. Caresales.com.au is being sold off heavily, down 7 per cent to $11.32, and Bapcor is down 9.5 per cent to $5.81.

Computershare is up 4.7 per cent to $18.64 on its profit increase.

Computershare has also delivered a strong result and increased its earnings guidance. While revenue dropped 0.2 per cent to $1.1 billion, net profit increased 51.5 per cent to $259.3 million. The company has increased the interim dividend to 21 cents, payable 15 March and franked at 30 per cent.

Computershare says revenue declined because US corporate activity that occurred in between June and December 2017 was not repeated in 2018. The profit growth was driven by higher margin income due to interest rate increased in the US, Canada and the UK and "higher average client balances".

First half earnings per share increased 15.5 per cent to 35.37 cents, leading management to increase the full year forecast from 10 per cent growth in earnings per share, to 12.5 per cent growth. The share price has been bouncing around lately and dropped from $18.36 on Friday to close at $17.80 on Tuesday.

Virgin Australia's half-year net profit has surged to $74 million, from $4 million last year, as it raised domestic airfares and grew passenger numbers. The airline said its underlying earnings of $112 million, up 37 per cent, meant its half-year result was the best in 11 years. Total passenger numbers grew 2 per cent in the six months to December 31.

Revenue lifted 10 per cent to $3 billion across the group, as average airfares increased by 6 per cent in the domestic market and 3.4 per cent on international routes. Losses from Virgin's international network blew out to $12 million in the half on an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) basis - compared to a $2.7 million loss in the same period the previous year.

Read the full story from Patrick Hatch here

CSL has beaten market expectations with a $US1.2 billion net profit on revenue of $US4.5 billion for the December half year and lifted its full year earnings guidance to the upper end of the $US1.88 billion to $US1.95 billion provided last year.

The upgrade is not a big surprise. Shares increased 1.25 per cent on Tuesday and closed at $193.69.

Consensus earnings estimates for the fiscal year were $US1.94 billion ahead of the result, which was was at the top end of CSL's guidance, suggesting the market was expecting an upgrade, according to Bloomberg.

More to come