Business news

    ASX200 lower; Affirm goes public; Smart perfume device

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    Highlights
    • ASX200 fell 3 points to 6683.6 at the open.
    • Affirm soars more than 98% on market debut.
    • Smart perfume is a real thing in 2021.

    The Australian market has started the session lower in morning trade, after the big miners took a hit. However, it has rebounded to gain 0.49% at lunchtime.

    Tech stocks are surging today up 3.78% at lunchtime. Afterpay is soaring today up 7.37% to $118.39 on the back of Morgan Stanley lifting its target share price to $136 a share with expectations of strong revenue growth through global expansion.

    Bitcoin has reached another 24-hour high of US$38,130.68. The world?s largest cryptocurrency is trading around US$37,400 at 1:30pm AEDT.

    In tech news, US buy now, pay later competitor, Affirm, has dominated on debut, soaring more than 98% by close of trade to US$97.24 and a market value over US$23 billion. In Tuesday?s IPO the company sold 24.6 million shares at US$49 each, raising US$1.2 billion.

    In the headlines, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce predicts one of the three carriers on the Melbourne to Sydney route won?t survive past the pandemic. Low-cost competitor, REX airways, recently announced it will commence flights on the already Virgin and Qantas flooded route, Sydney to Melbourne, as of March, intensifying competition in an already tight market.

    And the latest everyday product to turn into a smart device is perfume. The new Ninu is a rechargeable device storing up to three scents, controlled by an app allowing users to choose the ratio of each scent dispensed based on mood.

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