Much to the probable relief of ASX investors, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is enjoying a day of healthy gains so far this Tuesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is up a robust 0.63% at 7,290 points. But one ASX 200 share is making those gains look paltry. That would be the Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price.
Webjet shares are putting the ASX 200 to shame today. This company is up a healthy 4.14% at $5.54 a share so far after closing at $5.33 yesterday and opening at $5.50 this morning.
So what could be behind this market-beating performance?
Why is the Webjet share price taking off today?
Well, to put things into perspective, these gains come after a very rough time for the Webjet share price during November. This is a company that was going for $6.60 a share around a month ago, meaning it has fallen more than 16% since then. And that's including today's gains.
We can probably blame the emergence of the Omicron COVID variant last month for most of Webjet's woes. Most ASX shares in the travel sector got smashed over November, probably on similar concerns. For example, on today's pricing, Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) shares are still down more than 11.5% over the past month. Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) shares have lost close to 7.5%. And Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) shares are down close to 15%.
So it's likely not an individual problem with Webjet that has tanked the shares over the past month, but a sector-wide selloff.
As for today's gains, we can point to a converse pattern. All of the companies listed above are enjoying strong gains today. Corporate Travel and Flight Centre, in particular, are both up more than 5% so far.
This comes after travel-related shares over in the US rallied strongly last night (our time). Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL) rose close to 6% in last night's trading. American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ: AAL) rose almost 8%. And Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL) shares were up a pleasing 8.14%. It's possible that the ASX travel sector has taken its cues from these US companies today.
Evidently, both ASX and US investors seem to be putting their Omicron worries behind them, at least for now.
At the current Webjet share price, this ASX 200 travel share has a market capitalisation of $2.1 billion.
