At lunch on Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on track to end the week on a positive note. The benchmark index is currently up 0.3% to 7,294.8 points.
Here's what has been happening on the market today:
CSL shares downgraded
The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price is trading lower today. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Credit Suisse this morning. According to the note, the broker has downgraded CSL's shares to a neutral rating and trimmed the price target on them to $310.00. The broker is expecting CSL's gross margins to come under pressure due to higher plasma donation costs in the United States.
Zip to be hit by new Afterpay product?
The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is trading lower today after analysts at Citi suggested that the new pay anywhere offering from Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) could be a threat to its US business. This new service will allow US consumers to generate a single-use card to enter at checkout for some of the largest retailers in the lucrative market such as Amazon. Citi notes that there is a high customer overlap between Afterpay and Zip's QuadPay business in the US.
Charter Hall update impresses
The Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC) share price is pushing higher today after the property company provided an update on property revaluations. According to the release, the company's funds under management (FUM) Platform will generate gross valuation increases of $3.3 billion from these revaluations. That's even after factoring in $0.6 billion of development capex. This will result in forecast FUM rising to approximately $52 billion, up $12 billion over the course of FY 2021.
Best and worst ASX 200 performers
The best performer on the ASX 200 today has been the Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN) share price with a 7% gain. Although there has been no news out of the gold explorer, its shares were given a boost by being added to the ASX 200 index on Monday. The worst performer has been the WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) share price with a 3% decline. This is despite there being no news out of the logistics solutions company.
