Archives: Reports
Friday’s tough day for equities took the ASX200 lower for a second consecutive week, almost 3% below its early February high. Reporting season has created some major volatility on the stock/sector level which is no surprise but its not common to see Commonwealth Bank (CBA) lead both the sector and index lower – Australia’s largest banks closed down -8.2% for the week with the average fall across the “Big Four” come Friday being -5.6%, remember MM often says “the market cannot go up with the banks”.
The local market followed the overnight lead today as rising bond yields weighed on risk assets. The end of the market more leveraged to rates – Tech and Real Estate – were some the hardest hit while Energy was also under pressure as coal names continued their slide. Two sectors managed gains today despite the weakness, being Utilities and Consumer Staples.
The ASX200 delivered another fascinating session on Thursday with 8% of the main board moving by over 5%, with the winners dominating 15-1 it wasn’t surprising to see the index close up +0.8%, even with Commonwealth Bank (CBA) falling another -1.5%. Under the hood, the IT and Consumer Discretionary Sectors were the standouts both rallying +2.7% – interesting to see the interest rate-sensitive stocks outperform in a week when short-term bond yields are making 4-month highs.
A big day on the reporting front with more results than not topping expectations leading to good moves in many shares, while a higher-than-expected unemployment rate (3.7% v 3.5% exp) saw bond yields trickle lower, taking some pressure off the RBA.
The ASX200 tumbled over -1% yesterday after Commonwealth Bank (CBA) dragged both the sector and index lower, by the close the “Big 4” banks were responsible for over two-thirds of the main index’s 78-point fall. During the day we saw noticeably large volume through the futures market as nervous investors appeared to move to the sidelines following the market’s +9.6% rally from its early January low – in just 8 trading days the local market has surrendered over 200 points or 3%.
The market was hit today as the influential banking sector weighed heavily on the index, accounting for ~2/3rds of the day’s decline. It actually wasn’t too bad elsewhere with 50% of the ASX trading higher, but when the average decline of the Big 4 is ~4.5%, it’s always going to be tough going.
The ASX200 followed US indices higher at the start of Tuesday but from 10.30 am onwards it slowly but surely slipped lower losing almost 80% of its original gains, a couple of big hits on the stock level appeared to weigh on overall sentiment e.g. Star Entertainment (SGR) -13.5%, Ansell (ANN) -8.7% and Breville (BRG) -4.7%. Earnings season hasn’t helped a tired market that’s already rallied +18% from its October low, however, it’s been interest rate expectations that’s weighed heaviest on risk assets over recent weeks, yesterday we saw NAB forecast that the RBA would hike rates up to 4.1% and suddenly we have a new “handle” that is largely being accepted.
The market opened with a bang this morning keying off a positive night overseas, however, the best of it was seen early with results more often than not underwhelming, while key US inflation data is due out tonight (6.2% YoY expected), and that will have a big bearing on the direction of stocks from here.
The ASX200 slipped -0.2% yesterday but in a similar fashion to US stocks on Friday we saw some buying surface into the close, especially through the futures. While the local market was down all-day only 55% of the main board closed lower although there was a negative undercurrent to proceedings as the Consumer Discretionary stocks continued to struggle, their woes were compounded by a bearish outlook from JB Hi-Fi (JBH) which saw the electronics retailer tumble over 5% – more on this later.
A quiet session to kick off the trading week with the Super Bowl taking centre stage as the Kansas City Chiefs knocked off the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35, in a very close contest.
