The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went up by 0.9% to 6,825 points today.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX:
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price fell by over 1% today after the buy now, pay later (BNPL) business gave a market announcement relating to its UK business called Clearpay.
Clearpay said that it welcomed the UK's Woolard review proposal to bring BNPL under FCA oversight with proportionate regulation.
The UK BNPL business said that it has always supported fit for purpose regulation that recognises the diversity of the industry and desire from consumers for flexible payment options that don't trap them in long-term debt.
Damian Kassabigi EVP of public policy at Clearpay said: "We welcome today's recommendations and look forward to working with the FCA, the government and stakeholders to build on the consumer protections we already provide to create the applicable regulation for the sector.
"It has always been Clearpay's view that consumers will be best served by products designed with strong safeguards and appropriate industry regulation with oversight from the FCA."
Amcor CDI (ASX: AMC)
The Amcor share price went up by 4.5% today in reaction to the first half result of FY21.
The ASX 200 company said that its statutory net income was up 65% to $417 million, whilst statutory earnings per share (EPS) went up 71% to 26.5 cents.
Adjusted EPS went up 16% in constant currency terms to 33.3 cents whilst adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) grew by 8% to $743 million.
Amcor said that it achieved $35 million of Bemis cost synergies in the first half, it's expecting $70 million of cost synergies in FY21.
A further $200 million of share repurchases have been approved, bringing the total announced in FY21 to $350 million. The board also decided to slightly increase the dividend to 11.75 cents per share.
Amcor CEO Ron Delia said: "Sales growth of 3% was balanced across our businesses and regions, cost performance has been strong and synergies from the Bemis acquisition are running ahead of schedule. We have built momentum in both operating segments resulting in adjusted EBIT growth of 9% in flexibles and 10% in rigid packaging in constant currency terms. That momentum translates into higher expectations for the full year with adjusted EPS growth now forecast at 10% to 14% in constant currency terms as well as an increased dividend and additional share repurchases."
BWP Trust (ASX: BWP)
BWP also released its FY21 half-year result today. It achieved like for like rental growth of 2%, but overall revenue was flat at $76.1 million. Profit before gains on investment properties was also flat at $56.9 million.
The business reported gains in the value of its investment properties of $87 million. That helped net profit increase by 6% to $144 million and the net tangible assets (NTA) per unit increased by 5% to $3.20. Its gearing finished December 2020 at 17.8%.
BWP decided to maintain its interim distribution per unit at 9.02 cents.
In terms of the outlook, BWP said that it's well positioned in the current COVID-19 environment with the significant majority of rental income being from Bunnings and other national large format retailers which are all trading well during this time.
Big four banks rise
After the RBA's announcement yesterday of more quantitative easing, the big bank share prices all went higher today.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price went up 1.1%, the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price climbed 1.5%, the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price went up 1.9% and the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price grew 1.9%.
