The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) surged higher on Wednesday, it went up 1.7% today to 6,450 points.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX today:
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)
CBA announced its first quarter trading update today.
The big four ASX bank revealed that it generated $1.9 billion of statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) in the quarter for the three months to 30 September 2020.
It also said that it made $1.8 billion of cash NPAT, which was down 16% on the same period last year.
CBA reported that its income was stable compared to the quarterly average for the second half of FY20. Its core volume growth helped to offset lower net interest margins. Meanwhile, expenses rose by 2% excluding customer remediation (or down 4% including customer remediation provisions in the second half of FY20).
The ASX 200 bank said that its credit quality indicators insulated by repayment deferrals and government support initiatives. The provision coverage was strengthened through forward looking adjustments for economic assumptions and expected COVID-19 impacts.
The strong balance sheet settings were maintained, with deposit funding at 74%. The CET1 capital ratio of 11.8%, which was an increase of 20 basis points after the payment of the FY20 final dividend.
CBA CEO Matt Comyn said: "Disciplined execution of our strategy and strong operational performance continued to deliver good outcomes for our stakeholders during the September quarter. Our strong balance sheet, focus on operational excellence and the dedication and commitment of our people ensures we remain well placed to support our customers and the wider community through ongoing challenges of COVID-19."
Looking at CBA's home loan deferrals, there was a reduction in the deferred balance of around $18 billion. There are approximately 45,600 home loans still in deferral at the end of October, worth around $19 billion – of these 27% are due to expire and exit in November, though they may be extended.
The CBA share price rose 2.75% in reaction to this news.
Oil businesses
The oil industry has gone up again after a strong reaction yesterday to the hopeful vaccine news.
Today, the Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price went up 6.3%, the Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price grew by 6.4%, the Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) share price grew by 7.5% and the Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price rose 7%.
Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB)
The Mesoblast share price went up by around 4.8% today after it announced today that the randomised controlled phase 3 trial of remestemcel-L, in patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to a COVID-19 infection, has received a recommendation to continue from the independent data safety monitoring board following completion of the trial's second interim analysis.
Mesoblast chief medical officer Dr Fred Grossman said: "We are pleased with the recommendation by the DSMB, as we seek to confirm whether remestemcel-L improves survival in ventilated COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe ARDS. Patients who have co-morbidities or are older are likely to continue to be at high risk of ARDS and death, even if COVID-19 vaccines become available. This is why having a potential treatment that reduces mortality in these patients is so important."
Other big share price movements
There were some big movements in the ASX not related to oil. The Virgin Money UK CDI (ASX: VUK) share price went up 14.3% and the Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price went up 6.7%.
Straker Translations Ltd (ASX: STG) saw its share price soar 76% after announcing an important deal with IBM. Straker has been picked as a strategic translation service provider on for a two-year agreement.
