Australia's Helia jumps after Macquarie upgrades to 'outperform'

Helia

20/06/2024 06:56

** Shares of Helia Group  HLI.AX  rise as much as 16.8% to
A$3.9, posting their biggest intraday percentage gain since Feb.
24, 2023
    ** Analysts at Macquarie upgrade rating on lenders mortgage
insurance (LMI) provider to "outperform" from "neutral"
    ** HLI fell 20.9% on Wednesday after top client Commonwealth
Bank of Australia  CBA.AX  flagged plans to issue tenders for
its external LMI requirements for the whole group, including it
unit Bankwest which is separately insured with QBE Insurance
 QBE.AX  
    ** Macquarie says negative share-price reaction presents an
opportunity, along with potential acceleration of the on-market
buyback
    ** "On the balance of probabilities, we think HLI would
likely become the exclusive LMI provider for CBA's entire group"
- brokerage
    ** About 4.2 mln shares change hands, compared with the
30-day average volume of around 930,000
    ** Stock trims YTD losses to 4.1% YTD, including session's
moves



 (Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru)
 ((Aaditya.govindrao@thomsonreuters.com;))