It's always a very very busy time for accountants and bookkeepers. Now, many of you might use Zero software in your business, but it's not just your work affairs. The company has its own right now. After making a full billion dollar move to get even more stuck into the US markets, the software platform has paid US two point five billion dollars to acquire Mellio Pavement Payments, which is US market
share for its business delivering accounts, payable and receivables. Like Zero, Melio targets small and medium sized businesses, with the move expected to triple the North American revenue of Zero, which it currently has most of its business coming out of Australia and New Zealand. Of course, it is in New Zealand business, so we really can't take the claim for it,
but it is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Due to the ongoing nature of the announcement, Zero was placed in a trading halt today but last traded at one hundred and ninety four dollars twenty one a share, with a market cap of almost thirty billion dollars. Let's check in on the rest of the markets today and.
Now on Money News. The market landlords think your sprita insurance covers everything? Think again. Find out more at terry shared dot com dot au, Australia's leading landlord insurance specialized and.
After some significant volatility on the markets in the last couple of days, the action was a little bit more sedate today as tension to the Middle East, we're a little bit more subdued. Sitting near flat for most of the session, the ASX two hundred closed up just three point seven points to eighty five hundred and fifty nine.
Financial stocks yet again set the tone as good inflation numbers came in CBA shares reaching a new intra day high above one hundred and ninety two dollars a year, eventually closing up one point seven percent to one hundred and ninety one dollars. Forty. Defense platform Drone Shield said to today investors keep an eye on me because as signed a new contract in Europe with more than six hundred million dollars. It's the largest single order in the
company's history. Shares were boosted by more than twenty percent to two dollars fourteen and after a successful IPO yesterday, Verge in Australia continued to soar, rising by another three point four percent, trading at the close at three dollars thirty four. On the other side of the course, it was the materials and energy sectors feeling the most pain, with I OR futures dipping below ninety three dollars US a ton BHP four one percent four to street down
two point three percent. But Rio Tinto recovered from earlier losses to only drop point six percent to one hundred and four dollars thirty a share, and as the need for a safe haven withdrew, investors looked towards gross stocks instead of gold as the spot price for the medal dropped to three thousand, three hundred and thirty US announce and gold mine as Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining, and
Newmont all took a hit. But while the market was unusually quite compared to lately, there's still a huge amount to unpack, and I'll do it on out with Carl kapelinga senior editor at Market Index. Carl, great to have you on the show on this Wednesday night.
Good Evening's gott great to be here, Carl.
The inflation numbers were a surprise today, and as Dana Messina said, to us before this time it was on the downward side, but the market didn't really react at all. In fact, even after the rate cuts we literally priced into the market, nothing really happened. Was that a surprise, Well, well it was.
A surprise number, so it was better than we expected. But it probably only changes the timing of the next cut nice and much how many we'll get. I mean, I think we're pretty sure we're going to be closer to three percent by the end of the year than four percent. We're going to be July, not August, and I think that's what changed. But you know, if you scratch beneath Cervia even show, you said there were some
stocks that did well. The socks it didn't do well, and that's that means the index over all even out. But banks had a good date to date. I mean, they're obviously going to be a beneficiary for you know, it means you to pay our mortgages and we're going to take more mortgages out and consumer to grosery stocks. We'll have more money in our pocket. Theory, So there were parts of the market that did well.
Yeah, that's a good point, Carl, because it could possibly speed up more loans into the market and potentially more refinancing. So once again we talk about another record for the Cornwall Bank and good performance overall whole finance and banking sector. So how are brokers and fund managers reacting to this juggernaut.
Well, I guess you've got Yeah, you've got brokers and some analysts that are concerned. There's probably the right word about some of the banking valuations. So we've had one. We've got a sister site, Live wire Markets that had an interview recently. One of the same fund managers said he'd rather stick pins in his eye Scott than by CBA at current levels.
Now, well, if you want to write down what price he said that at with the amount of ETF money coming in there calling them as well.
It's much higher. Look, it's much higher, and it is frustrating them. They're underweight and it keeps going up and that makes it harder for them to meet their obviously their performance goals. But I look at it personally. I mean, I'm of the opinion that the trend is your friend into a Benz and hasn't not bending yet, so I'm happy to stay there. But as you say, it's pension money. It's global pension money. You've got a lot of big
global banks as well. They're also rising. You can't just look at what's happening in Australia think You've got to look broader and say, well, this is a this is a wave. There's a wave of money coming in for these things and you really don't want to get in the way of it. But the big question is whether we can both two hundred on CBA. It's in the one nineties. Only six other stocks are there on the A six, so it'd be nice to see the CEO can make it.
Yes, with Maccrurie the only diversified financial services above two hundred dollars and it could be emerging on that price. But as you said, you said about the wave their Carl, and it really is a tale of two sectors at the moment, and over in the West you'd be hearing stories about weaker resources. Now, I know the market is sickly cool, but I'm really surprised at the gap between financials and materials. So what's your outlook.
Well, there's okay where everybody's focused on the war in the Middle East, but there's still a trade war raging, and that's what I think the big fun flowers are still focused on, and they just rather be elsewhere than
sectors that are still going to be impacted to. I think we've got a ceasefire in the Middle East, we don't really have a seat fire on the other front just yet, so we know China is going to still have some seriously onerous tariffs directed at it by the US, even despite the talks that we had before the Middle East flow up, and I was the resources the coal face no pun intended of that economy's performance, and we are seeing the direct result of that in nearly our
twelve buffalos on Betch p Rio fort Es qu A lot of the coal companies got belted today funding we're talking about coal.
Yeah, and it's a bit of a relief for the main newsed team that we didn't have to report on the threat of all tonight. But defense companies continue to be popular and the rise of drone shield has been outstanding and another deal today had its surging So what do you know about it? And is this sect that something investors should literally be keeping their close eye on.
Yeah. Absolutely, that's one of my favorites. Actually, it's one I follow very very closely. If any of your listeners read any of my stuff, it's one that has been doing very very well and there's no reason why it can't in the current environment. So you've got obviously drones which are flying around doing the damage, and then you've got counter drone measures, which is where drone shield is
focused on dealing with that threat. And they've got a range of you know, sort of the soldiers can wear these certain guns and weapons that can take out the drones. They've got sort of anti drone countermeasures, intensive radars and things like that. But you know, look with the UK, Europe, the US, they've all recently announced major, major spending initiatives in this area. But it's not just drone shields. It's
just one of several very very strong defense socks. You've probably had no idea we had a defense industry over here, Scott. That l site is another one. They're more focused on driving the drones themselves. Electro optic systems. These guys do remote weapons systems, lasers, tracking missiles in space and potentially them down. Very very topical at the moment, and the share prices of those again, there's a couple of ETF
as well d FND and ARMR. IF listeners want to write scripblebase down and they're going to give that those et is going to give a mix of local and international defense docks as well, So very very strong area of the market.
Yeah, we have talked about that on Money News, both with deb Knight and myself in the last couple of weeks. That's Carl Kaupling, senior editor at Market Index. Thank you so much for your insight on this Wednesday night.
Good one, Thanks Scott.
Turning to the currency markets and the doll experience some weakness at the close this afternoon to be back just below sixty five us NS. One dollar is also worth forty seven per point seven British pens, just under fifty six euro cents, ninety four Japanese yen, and is pushing back up to a dollar eight. New Zealand