The ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is currently down 1.7% at midday as many ASX shares reverse the gains made earlier in the week.
ASX 200 goes backwards
Some of the shares that were making the biggest gains earlier in the week have gone backwards.
The current state of play for the worst ASX 200 performers are:
The Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW) share price is down 6.5%.
Scentre (ASX: SCG) has seen its share price drop 5.6%.
The G8 Education (ASX: GEM) share price has fallen 5%.
As you might expect on a negative day, gold miners are having a golden run so far.
The Northern Star (ASX: NST) share price is up 5.5%, the Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) share price is up 5% and the Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR) share price is up 5.7%.
JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) impresses
The electronics and home appliance retailer released a trading update today. Sales remain strong through the COVID-19 difficulties.
In the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 May 2020 compared to the prior corresponding period, JB Hi-Fi Australia sales were up 20% and The Good Guys sales were up 23.5%. However, JB Hi-Fi New Zealand sales were down 19.3%.
New Zealand sales suffered from temporary closures of stores, but Kiwi stores have now resumed full trading. In light of the uncertainty in New Zealand, the company is reviewing asset values and expects to report an impairment of $25 million after tax.
Total sales are now expected to be $7.86 billion. Total net profit after tax, after the New Zealand impairment, is expected to be in the range of $300 million to $305 million. This would be an increase of 20% to 22% compared to FY19.
NAB (ASX: NAB) CEO warns of continuing borrower difficulties
According to AFR reporting, NAB CEO Ross McEwan was on ABC Radio National earlier and he gave a concerning update about borrowers who have taken a payment holiday.
He said that the major ASX bank has been contacting its business and property loan borrowers to see how they’re going.
Mr McEwan revealed that around 10% to 15% of borrowers confirmed they’re now actually in decent shape and wanted payments to restart.
However, things are a bit more uncertain for the other 85% to 90% of borrowers. Mr McEwan said: “The rest have said ‘look, let’s see how we’re going in the next month or two as I get my job back or I get my business back up and running’.”
[ls_content_block id=”695″ para=”paragraphs”]
