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Australian Investment Blog

ASX:APX 16/01/2019

Midday Movers: A subdued session on the local market

A subdued session for the ASX200 (ASX:XJO) today which is currently showing a small 8point / +0.14% gain for the day so far to trade at 5822. Volumes continue to remain light, and volatility, which yesterday fell through the key 20 level, continues to edge lower. Banks are doing the heavy lifting at the moment, with each of the big four trading higher. Westpac (ASX: WBC) is currently the best off, up 0.82% to $25.97. Financials in general are doing well. Insurance names of QBE (ASX: QBE) & Suncorp (ASX: SUN) are both over 1% higher.

Westpac (ASX: WBC) Chart
Tech names are also doing particularly well. Appen (ASX: APX) has continued its grind higher, adding nearly 4% today to trade at $14.80. Altium (ASX: ALU) is also performing well with a 1.8% jump with most of the buying focused on US facing tech names which have followed the overnight move from the NASDAQ.
Appen (ASX: APX) Chart
Offsetting the positive move in financials is a slump in resources despite a generally positive move in commodities overnight. The BREXIT deal was shot down this morning, and weak economic data from Eurozone would usually see a negative move in the commodity space. Traders are now banking on an extension to the BREXIT timeline combined with European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi comments on further stimulus helped copper & nickel trade higher. Despite all of this, BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) are trading currently -0.85% & -0.72% respectively.
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) Chart
The best performer for the index at this stage is Ausdrill (ASX: ASL) which has reversed yesterday’s losses by adding ~7% today to trade at $1.25. The market sold off the mining services company after a substantial shareholder let go of some shares as well as announcing the CFO plans to resign. The three worst performers are all resources names with mineral sands company Iluka (ASX: ILU) down -4.19%, Alumina (ASX: AWC) off -3.8% and lithium name Orocobre (ASX: ORE) down -3.13%.
Ausdrill (ASX: ASL) Chart
   

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