At lunch on Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has bounced back from a poor start and is trading broadly flat. The benchmark index is currently trading at 6,793.2 points.
Here's what is happening on the ASX 200 today:
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Brickworks record property earnings
The Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) share price is pushing higher today. This morning the building products company announced the launch of the Brickworks Manufacturing Trust and provided a trading update. The latter revealed that it expects to report record Property earnings and strong earnings growth from its Building Products operations in both Australia and North America.
IAG update disappoints
The Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price is falling on Friday after the insurance giant's preliminary full-year results disappointed. IAG revealed that it expects to deliver a reported insurance profit of $586 million. This reflects an insurance profit margin of 7.4%, which is down 6.1 percentage points year on year and short of its 10% to 12% guidance. Management blamed this largely on its net natural peril costs of $1,119 million, which were $354 million above the original allowance of $765 million.
Travel shares tumble
One area of the market that is well and truly out of form on Friday is the travel sector. The shares of Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) are falling particularly heavily today along with other travel shares. This follows a poor night of trade for travel stocks on Wall Street after disappointing results from two major airlines.
Best and worst ASX 200 performers
The best performer on the ASX 200 on Friday has been the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price with a 17% gain. This morning Ord Minnett put an accumulate rating and 90 cents price target on its shares. Going the other way, the worst performer has been the Coronado Global Resources Inc (ASX: CRN) share price with a 7% decline. This follows the coal miner's quarterly update.
