ASX to reset record; Fed flags inflation risks

On the downside, Whitehaven Coal fell 5.6 per cent, Ramelius Resources dropped 5.4 per cent, Challenger fell 4.8 per cent and Coles also dropped 4.8 per cent.

“In considering whether or not to extend the target to the November 2024 bond, the central issue is again the probability of the cash rate increasing over a three-year window.

“As part of the board’s overall strategy, it will not increase the cash rate until inflation is sustainably within the 2–3 per cent target range.

Year-ended CPI inflation will temporarily spike in the June quarter to around 3.5 per cent due to the unwinding of some pandemic-related price reductions.

“For inflation to be sustainably in the 2–3 per cent range, wage increases will need to be materially higher than they have been recently,” he said.

New Zealand’s GDP rose by 1.6 per cent in the March quarter, after dropping 1 per cent in the December quarter, and increased 2.4 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Economists were expecting March quarter GDP to increase 0.5 per cent.

Sonic said that the acquisition “is a significant and positive step in the development of Sonic’s Imaging division in Australia, broadening its footprint, deepening its talent pool, increasing the revenue of the division by about 10 per cent, and offering potential opportunity for synergy benefits.”.

Settlement of the transaction is expected in the first quarter of financial year 2022.

The coal miner is forecasting production for the 2021 financial year of 20.4 million tonnes, below its previous guidance of between 20.6 million and 21.4 million tonnes.

BSP Financial Group, which trades as the Bank of South Pacific, is the holder of this dubious honour.

Earlier this week, The Financial Review reported a money laundering probe into BSP was begun in late 2019 by the Financial Analysis and Supervision Unit (FASU), which sits within the PNG central bank.

Late last year FASU issued the bank with a “show cause notice” as to why it should not be sanctioned for breaching PNG’s anti-money laundering legislation, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

In a statement to the Financial Review earlier this week, BSP chief executive Robin Fleming said the bank was under “obligations of confidentiality” and would not comment on “speculation” that it was under investigation.

Seven West Media is expecting its underlying earnings for the 2021 financial year will come in ahead of where consensus forecasts are currently expecting, driven by a strong rebound in advertising revenue.

It said trading conditions in the fourth quarter of FY21 had been positive, with a strong rebound in advertising revenue compared to last year.

The central bank unanimous decision on Wednesday took the Selic to 4.25 per cent, in line with all 38 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey and also policy makers’ own guidance

The central bank also scrapped plans to keep some monetary stimulus in the economy, saying a normalisation of the policy rate to a level considered neutral is now more appropriate

“Brazil’s challenge is to not allow inflation expectations for 2022 and 2023 to become unanchored,” Alvaro Frasson, economist at BTG Pactual SA, said before the central bank’s decision

Analysts surveyed by the central bank see consumer prices above target through 2022