The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was up this morning, but it finished lower by 0.16% to 5,313 points.
New South Wales has announced it will lessen gathering restrictions on Friday in a sign of Australia starting to open up again.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX 200:
More pain for Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)
Westpac announced some coronavirus provisions pain today. What did the Westpac share price do today? It rose 2%.
So, what was the actual announcement? In the first half of FY20 Westpac expects to show impairment charges of $2.24 billion. This includes approximately $1.6 billion of additional impairment charges predominately related to coronavirus impacts.
However, the bank warned the outbreak is still in its early stages and the impact on customers and future impacts on the bank remain "highly uncertain". Future impairments will depend on how severe and long the economic decline is.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)
The gold miner released its quarterly activity report today. In the March 2020 quarter it generated $89 million of underlying free cash flow after investing around $66 million in growth and exploration.
It sold 239,031 ounces of gold in the quarter at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,590 per ounce.
The miner has decided to defer payment of its interim dividend to October. But the full-year dividend is still expected to be paid as normal in the same timeframe and equal to 6% of group revenue.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) looking at Target
Wesfarmers gave a trading update today.
The conglomerate said that Bunnings and Officeworks are performing very well with a lot of people working at home or doing projects at home. Online sales have been doing well and Catch has been performing very strongly. Three Kmarts have been converted into 'dark stores'.
However, in recent weeks Kmart in-store sales have moderated and Target sales have "declined significantly" causing earnings to fall. Management are doing a review of Target to improve shareholder returns.
The Wesfarmers share price finished higher by 0.3%.
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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Wesfarmers Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
