A number of positive profit reports have helped investors shrug off weak offshore leads, pushing the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX:XJO) 0.17% higher to 5,540 points.
The financial and telecommunications sectors are the best performing sectors today, with the gold and resources sectors acting as drags on the overall market.
Four shares that are being hit particularly hard today, include:
Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX: AZJ)
Shares of the rail freight company have dropped more than 7% today after the company reported a 16% decline in underlying full year profits to $510 million. Statutory profits declined a whopping 88% on the back of asset write-downs, although this had already been flagged by Aurizon last month. The company continues to face challenges in the resources sector and it appears investors have been left disappointed with the company's subdued outlook for FY17. Nevertheless, Aurizon expects to increase FY17 underlying EBIT to between $900 million and $950 million.
CSG Limited (ASX: CSV)
CSG shares have plummeted more than 21% today after the company announced its full year results. Despite reporting a 20% jump in underlying net profit after tax (NPAT), it appears investors have been spooked by slowing growth in the finance solutions division. The company was able to increase receivables by around $24 million in the second half, although this only contributed an additional $0.1 million to profits for the division. This is clearly a concern for investors, but CSG is still forecasting double digit growth in revenues and earnings in FY17.
Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM)
Shares of Newcrest have fallen 4.3% today after the company announced a 24% drop in underlying profit to US$323 million. Despite the drop in profits, the gold miner declared its first dividend since February 2013, with a 7.5 cent per share unfranked dividend. As highlighted here, Newcrest was unable to take advantage of higher spot gold prices throughout the year due to an unfavourable hedging program and this has clearly worked against investors. Despite today's fall, Newcrest remains one of the top performing large cap shares over the past 12 months with a share price gain of 123%.
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)
Fortescue is the worst performing major miner today with its shares falling 4.8% to $4.37. A 3% fall in Chinese iron ore futures is the main culprit for today's fall with a number of other iron ore miners including BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) also suffering heavy falls. The recent strength of the Australian dollar is also having a negative impact on the major miners with iron ore typically priced in US dollars. Nevertheless, Fortescue shares have rallied 145% over the past 12 months.
