0320 GMT - The Warehouse Group looks to be facing material uncertainty in the consumer demand outlook, says Forsyth Barr analysts Andy Bowley and Margaret Bei in a note. The investment bank notes that WHS' trading update to Dec. 26 (partial 2Q FY 2023, representing its peak season) indicated reduced sales across all brands and lower gross margins relative to the prior period. "Christmas sales were below our expectations as revenue fell across all brands for the 2Q FY 2023 period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 26. While this is off a strong base, as the comparable prior year period benefitted from post-lockdown spending, the year ahead looks to be increasingly difficult for retailers," says FB. Partly due to this, the investment downgrades WHS to neutral from outperform.(alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2155 GMT - ASX's monthly activity report for December shows disappointing futures volumes, which are reverting back to declines, with the trend of weak equities trading and capital markets activity continuing, say Macquarie analysts in a note. Still, the investment bank expects ASX's interest income to continue to improve supported by higher cash rates, even as it remains cautious on the timing of investment spread expansion. Macquarie has an outperform rating on the stock, driven by its belief that ASX's earnings are very defensive against a weakening macro outlook, with upside risk to consensus interest income from FY 2024. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2148 GMT - Citi cuts its price target on accountancy software group Xero by 5.6% to A$92.40/share after the U.K. government decided to delay the implementation of the next phase of its Making Tax Digital initiative, or MTD. In a Jan. 4 note, analyst Siraj Ahmed says some accountants and bookkeepers could pause on signing up customers to MTD. As a result, Citi lowers its FY 2024 and FY 2025 subscriber growth forecasts by 4% and 5%, respectively. "However, we expect the Ebitda impact to be limited as we assume lower cost growth," Citi says. "Further, we see potential upside to our Ebitda forecasts with our hiring activity analysis showing that Xero's job listings activity continues to slow." Xero ended Friday at A$71.62. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2140 GMT - Transurban's defensive appeal prompts Citi to lift the toll road owner to buy from neutral. "With concerns around inflation being more sticky and higher for longer, we believe investors are likely to remain attracted to companies providing protection to rising inflation," analyst Suraj Nebhani says in a Jan. 3 note. Citi says 70% of Transurban's toll revenue is linked to inflation, and it has a significant pipeline of development projects. "Debt costs are rising, but longer debt maturity (circa 8 years) means the full impact will take multiple years to flow through," Citi says. "Despite this, the stock is currently trading in-line with long term averages on an enterprise value-to-Ebitda basis." (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2115 GMT - Jefferies cuts its price target on PointsBet by 20% to A$1.85/share, despite anticipating a record 2Q from the corporate bookmaker. In a note, analyst John Campbell says the bank's forecasts are below consensus for PointsBet's net win and Ebitda in FY 2023, believing its growth won't be sustained into 2H as the U.S. macro environment deteriorates. "That said, PointsBet's tech and Australian/U.S. client base are clearly of interest to trade buyers (hence discussions with NTD in Australia)," he says. Late last month, PointsBet said it's in talks over potentially selling its Australian trading business to NTD, the operator of local wagering firm Betr. PointsBet ended Friday at A$1.605. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2108 GMT - Computershare loses a bull in Jefferies which now sees peak rates for the company's margin income in FY 2024, a year earlier than previously forecast. "Since Computershare's annual general meeting in November the forward curves now point to a peak in interest rates in June 2023 to August 2023," says Jefferies, moving to hold from buy. "The all-important U.S. forward curve indicates the Fed o/n rate will peak in June 2023 and will be 54 basis points lower by Jan 2024." Jefferies analyst Simon Fitzgerald now expects Computershare's FY 2025 margin income to be 2.05% lower than in FY 2024. In a note, the bank cuts its price target by 15% to A$28.17/share. Computershare ended Friday at A$25.67. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires