The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose by around 1.25% today to 6,644 points.
Here are some of the main highlights from the ASX today:
Some resource ASX shares surged higher today, except gold
Gold was the one resource sector to suffer a decline today whilst other areas like oil went higher.
The Silver Lake Resources Limited. (ASX: SLR) share price fell 9.4%, the Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU) share price fell 7.6%, the Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price fell 8.9% and the Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) share price dropped 9%.
At the opposite end of the ASX 200 was the oil business Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price which rose around 8.2%. The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price shot higher by 6.9% and the Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price went up around 3%.
Over the weekend, the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine showed average effectiveness of 70%, with one dosage option giving 90% protection.
Other resource shares also went higher with the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price rising 3.4% and the Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price going up around 2.2%.
Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW)
Brickworks held its annual general meeting and gave a trading update as well.
The construction business gave some more details about its industrial property trust's progress that it owns half of together with Goodman Group (ASX: GMG).
It said that development activity by the property trust has continued at an unprecedented scale. At Oakdale West, construction of the Amazon distribution facility is well advanced and is due to be completed in September 2021. Brickworks also said that infrastructure works are also proceeding to schedule and will allow construction of the Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) distribution warehouse to commence early in 2021.
Once these two facilities are completed, net rental distributions will increase by over 25% and gross assets held within the property trust is expected to exceed $3 billion. Management said that there is sufficient remaining land to provide at least a further five years of development.
Brickworks said that its Australian building products division has made a strong start to FY21, with first quarter earnings well ahead of the prior corresponding period.
However, in North America sales in recent months have been below expectations because of impacts of COVID-19.
The Brickworks share price went up 4% today in reaction to this update.
TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)
ASX 200 software business TechnologyOne reported its FY20 result today. It grew revenue by 4% to $299 million. Revenue from its software as a service (SaaS) and continuing business went up 12% to $269.8 million and SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose by 32% to $134.6 million.
Reported profit before tax went up 8% to $82.5 million and underlying profit before tax went up 13% to $86.1 million. The company reported that its underlying profit before tax margin increased to 29%, up from 27% in the prior corresponding period.
Reported profit grew by 8%. It was impacted by a one-off increase in legal provisions, because of a judgement against TechnologyOne in a civil employment case.
The company continues to work on a transition away from its legacy licence business to SaaS. Its legacy licence business was down 34%, which reduced the profit and loss by $14 million in FY20.
TechnologyOne declared an annual dividend of 12.88 cents, which was an increase of 8% compared to last year. Its cashflow generation of $66.4 million was an increase of 49% compared to last year.
The TechnologyOne share price rose by around 0.4% in reaction to this news.
