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A good session for Aussie stocks recouping the majority of yesterday’s decline with all 11 sectors finishing in the green, headlined by a solid day for some of the retailers. Normal trade in the US tonight, before Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday and a half day Friday.
At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Donald Trump reminded us that the next few months, potentially years, will likely deliver plenty of volatility and opportunity. Just 24 hours beforehand, markets had welcomed Scott Bessent’s selection as the next U.S. Treasury Secretary with open arms in the hope of a more gradual layering of economic tariffs.
The market was losing steam yesterday, trading well off it’s morning highs and that theme continued today, amplified by comments from Trump on his social media platform “Truth Social” saying the US would impose additional tariffs of 10% on Chinese goods and place 25% levies on imports from Mexico and Canada.
The ASX200 closed up +0.3% on Monday, but it was a somewhat lacklustre session, with the index surrendering ~65% of its early morning gains. With 40% of the main board closing lower along with 3 of the Big 4 Banks, it was always going to be tough for the local index to make meaningful headway, although it did register another all-time high early in the morning.
A new all-time high for the ASX today with the market hitting 8462 in early trade before backing off from the milestone. Property stocks the main driver of gains, though, as was the case last week when the market pushed up, sellers took the opportunity to sell into strength, with the banks a noticeable omission from today’s gains – only Comm Bank (CBA) finishing higher.
The banks and resources hugely influence the ASX200, with the latter in the doldrums through most of 2024. Trump’s emphatic victory earlier this month exacerbated this underperformance. This morning, we’ve reconsidered what comes next as Beijing fails to deliver the bazooka-style stimulus many anticipated.
The ASX200 ended the week over 1% higher after posting fresh all-time highs on Tuesday. The energy and Utilities sectors advanced over 4%, while the tech, real estate, and consumer discretionary sectors were the only three out of the 11 to lose ground. Under the hood, the gold and uranium miners stood out in the winner’s enclosure while lithium stocks continued to decline – a theme that is not being mirrored in the United States with Albemarle (ALB US) up nearly 50% from its recent lows; elsewhere, cracks appeared in parts of the high-flying tech stocks. Company AGM’s as expected, threw up some volatility on the stock level:
A good session to end a choppy but ultimately positive week for the market that included a new all-time high for the ASX200 on Tuesday at 8446, and a new closing high today at 8393. Lots of corporate news coming from AGM’s, with a few hits, but more misses.
We are adding to a position in the Active Growth Portfolio
The ASX200 surrendered early gains on Thursday to finish the session down just 3 points, holding above 8320 technical support. How the US would react to Nvidia’s (NVDA US) result, delivered yesterday morning our time, was a hot topic of conversation that kept many players on the sidelines as the early reaction was muted, the stock initially dipping 5% in after-market trade.
