It certainly was a fantastic five days for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) last week. The benchmark index jumped 3.5% over the period to end it at 6,840.5 points.
There's another busy week ahead for investors starting Monday. Here are five things to watch:
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ASX futures pointing a fraction higher
As things stand, the ASX 200 is expected to open the week slightly higher on Monday. According to the latest SPI futures, the benchmark index is poised to rise 5 points at the open tomorrow. This follows a positive end to the week on Wall Street, which saw the Dow Jones rise 0.3%, the S&P 500 climb 0.4%, and the Nasdaq push 0.6% higher. The S&P 500 rose 4.7% over the five days, which was its best weekly performance since November.
Bank results begin
The banking sector will come into focus next week when a number of updates are released. Chief among them will be the half year result of Australia's largest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs is expecting the bank to report cash earnings from continuing operations (pre-one offs) of $3,692 million and an interim dividend of $1.25 per share. Before this, on Tuesday Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) and Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) will be releasing their own updates.
Telstra half year results
On Thursday all eyes will be on the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price when it releases its half year results. According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, it expects Telstra to report an 8% decline in revenue to $12,318 million and a 15% decline EBITDA to $3,971 million. Despite this, the broker is expecting the Telstra board to maintain its 8 cents per share interim dividend.
Property companies report
Investors will be able to see how badly the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted commercial property next week when a number of the biggest players in the industry report their earnings. This includes DEXUS Property Group (ASX: DXS) on Tuesday and Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) on Friday.
Challenger half year update
The Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) share price will be one to watch on Tuesday when it releases its half year results. According to a note out of Morgans, it believes the annuities company is tracking in-line with its FY 2021 guidance at this stage. For the half, it is forecasting half year underlying profit before tax of $204 million and an interim dividend of 9.8 cents per share.
