The Australian S&P /ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) share market has opened up 0.6% this morning following on from a strong overnight session on Wall St where tech and healthcare shares performed strongly on the back of a couple of strong earnings reports and uncertainty around the US mid-term elections being removed.
Some well known and blue-chip ASX shares are also racing higher today, for differing reasons, so let's take a look at what may be supporting some of today's top performers.
The Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price is up 4.5% to $44.90 after the cloud-accounting business revealed a widening half year net loss of NZ$28.6m, compared to NZ$19.6 million in the prior corresponding half year period. Although the loss blew out in the wrong direction, revenue climbed 37% to NZ$256.5 million and cash flows from operating activities grew to NZ$36 million, compared to NZ$15.1 million in the prior corresponding half year. Xero also added 193,000 new subscribers over the half year, with all regions performing solidly.
The AfterPay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) is up a huge 14% to $14.90 after the buy now, pay later, consumer credit group revealed it had already processed $A115 million of underlying sales in its new US market, with more than 300,000 US consumers already using the service. These numbers are very impressive, although the group still expects to post an FY 2019 EBITDA loss around $20 million in the US in FY 2019.
The REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) share price is up 9.2% to $79.28 this morning after the operator of realestate.com.au reported 17% revenue growth and 52% growth in free cash flow for the quarter ending September 30, 2018. The strong result was above analysts' expectations and driven by sales of existing and new products that help estate agents and their home owner clients sell their properties in today's soft market.
The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price is 1.8% higher at $191.71 on the back of gains for leading US healthcare shares overnight. CSL Limited shares have also fallen around 17% from their September highs despite the blood products giant releasing no new trading updates to the market other than to confirm guidance for growth in net profit of 10%-14% in FY 2019. The share price rise today is probably as a result of renewed investor confidence about the outlook for the global economy now some political uncertainty in the US has been removed.
