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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report

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Speaker 1: for Tuesday, the thirty first of March twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Oh Michael Thompson, and every afternoon, we've got the five

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Speaker 1: stories that happened today that you need to know about.

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Speaker 1: Let's get going with the story number one. The S

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Speaker 1: and PA Sex two hundred closed up zero point three

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Speaker 1: percent today to eighty four hundred and eighty one points

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Speaker 1: after a pretty volatile session. Early in the day. It

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Speaker 1: was down as much as zero point five percent before

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Speaker 1: being up one percent and then settling to be zero

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Speaker 1: point three percent higher for the day. Sharp swings in

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Speaker 1: sentiment really after reports that US President Donald Trump is

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Speaker 1: open to ending the Middle East conflict even if the

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Speaker 1: Strait of Humus is still mostly closed. Locally, technology stocks

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Speaker 1: led the gains. Zero was up more than six percent. Wise,

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Speaker 1: Tech and Technology one were also higher. The banks were mixed.

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Speaker 1: Commwealth Bank was lower, while Westpac, NAB and they all

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Speaker 1: edged higher. The price of gold rose after some easing

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Speaker 1: rate hike expectations out of the US that helped the

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Speaker 1: local gold miners. Newmont, for instance, was up more than

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Speaker 1: two percent. Northern Star climbed four point four percent. The

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Speaker 1: energy stocks pulled back though after a strong month, with Woodside,

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Speaker 1: Santos and Nampole or lower. Whitehaven was down sharply overall.

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Speaker 1: Though despite the rebound today on the market, the BOSS

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Speaker 1: finished March down seven point eight percent for the month.

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Speaker 1: That is its worst monthly result since mid twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 1: On to story number two. Now and furniture retailer Koala

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Speaker 1: has made a strong debut on the ASX. The stock

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Speaker 1: was priced at three dollars forty in the IPO and

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Speaker 1: closed almost twelve percent higher at three dollars eighty. Bit

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Speaker 1: of a rare bright spot for new listings. This year,

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Speaker 1: Kohala raised sixty eight million dollars from the float, with

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Speaker 1: proceeds to be used to repay debt and fund growth

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Speaker 1: as the company expands its product range and international footprint.

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Speaker 1: The business was founded just over ten years ago in

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. It's built its brand around fast delivery and

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Speaker 1: direct to consumer sales, trying to position itself really as

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Speaker 1: a challenger to Ikea. The listing comes at a time

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Speaker 1: when IPO activity has been a little bit subdued with

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Speaker 1: a lot of market volatility. Obviously, a link to the

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Speaker 1: Middle East conflict that has delayed a number of potential

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Speaker 1: and planned floats. Story number three Radio company ARN is

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Speaker 1: facing a second major legal challenge, with Jackie Oh Henderson

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Speaker 1: now launching her own court action over the termination of

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Speaker 1: her contract. Henderson is seeking at least eighty two million

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Speaker 1: dollars in compensation, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed after raising

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Speaker 1: workplace complaints about co host Kyle Sandalans. The claim follows

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Speaker 1: Sandaland's own legal action launched earlier this month, meaning AARN

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Speaker 1: is now defending two very high profile cases. The company

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Speaker 1: disputes the allegations and says it will defend the proceedings,

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Speaker 1: but has warned it cannot yet estimate the potential financial impact.

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Speaker 1: The company's share price tumbled today almost nineteen percent. Story

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Speaker 1: number four Colin's Foods has agreed to exit most of

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Speaker 1: its Taco Bell operations in Australia, selling twenty stores to

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Speaker 1: a new operator. The company will shut the remaining seven

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Speaker 1: outlets as it shifts its focus back to its core

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Speaker 1: KFC business in Australia and Europe. Colin's Foods had flagged

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Speaker 1: the exit last year after struggling to compete with rivals

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Speaker 1: in the Mexican food space, including Guzmini, Gomez and Zambrero.

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Speaker 1: The move follows a recent expansion into Germany, where the

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Speaker 1: company is rapidly growing its KFC network. Management says that

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Speaker 1: the exit will free up capital for higher return investments,

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Speaker 1: while analysts say the deal helps avoid larger closure costs.

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Speaker 1: Colin's share price closed zero point three percent lower today.

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Speaker 1: And finally, story number five a pretty incredible story out

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Speaker 1: of Italy really, where a gang of thieves has stolen

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Speaker 1: paintings by three French masters worth an estimated ten million

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Speaker 1: euros in a raid that took less than three minutes.

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Speaker 1: Police say the group broke into a gallery in northern Italy,

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Speaker 1: forcing open a rear entrance and heading straight to a

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Speaker 1: room dedicated to French masters. There they stole paintings by

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Speaker 1: renoir A Sayzan, but left behind a fourth painting in

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Speaker 1: their hurry to escape after they set off alarms. Experts

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Speaker 1: say the theft appears to be highly targeted and likely

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Speaker 1: involved prior surveillance, with the speed of the operation highlighting

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Speaker 1: vulnerabilities in gallery. Security authorities say, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the

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Speaker 1: artworks will be difficult to sell on the open market,

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Speaker 1: raising the likelihood that they could be used as ransom

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Speaker 1: or traded through criminal networks. And that's it for the

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Speaker 1: Afternoon Report for Tuesday, the thirty first of March. Make

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Speaker 1: sure you're following the podcast and head along to Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed dot com dot au to sign up for

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Speaker 1: our pre daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your reading.

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Speaker 1: H