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The ASX200 experienced a very mixed week depending which stocks / sectors investors held although again the index traded in a tight range ultimately closing down less than 1%. Following some panic moves across commodity markets we saw some aggressive profit taking in the space later in the week but fortunately, for the health of the local index, we saw the hugely influential Financial Sector rally 2.2% noticeably outperforming the Materials Index which finally ended the week down 3.4%. Some of the recent volatility in the commodities space is almost beyond panic and comprehension, even considering the war in the Ukraine:
A poor session to end the week with the market giving back most of yesterday’s gains – it sort of just felt like everyone lost interest after a busy week with volumes light and no impetus to step up and buy anything ahead of the weekend. For the week the ASX was only marginally lower, but under the hood, it was a different story, the two heavyweight sectors being the Materials -3.44% versus the Financials +2.20% on either end of the performance spectrum.
The ASX200 rallied strongly yesterday to close up 1.1% with over 80% of the market closing up on the day, if it hadn’t been for some profit taking in the energy & mining stocks it would have undoubtedly been a rare triple digit gain for the local index. Much of the strength flowed down from a pullback in oil prices following comments from the Ukraine that’s it’s open to peace talks with Russia, travel stocks were not surprisingly the standout winners e.g. Qantas (QAN) +5.8%, Webjet (WEB) +5.8% & Fight Centre (FLT) +6.6%.
A bullish session for the market today with buyers emerging following a pullback in energy & material prices overnight. The IT stocks built on yesterday’s bounce to lead the line however there was support right across the industrial and financial sectors, while energy & materials gave back some recent gains. In terms of index contribution, the big 4 banks added ~34 pts while BHP, RIO & FMG took ~30 pts off.
The ASX200 closed up over 1% yesterday on broad-based buying which saw 85% of stocks close higher on the day but it was the banks and IT names which led the line i.e. when the “Big Four” banks advance an average of 1.5% on any day it’s unlikely the bears will be smiling. It was a mixed bag in the losers corner on Wednesday as stocks / sectors almost take it in turns to move in & out of favour, if MM is correct we should be poised to see some major reversion on the performance front that has played our over last few months:
The choppy nature of the current market continued today with the ASX bouncing back from yesterday’s decline with all sectors finishing higher. After stabilising yesterday, the IT stocks found form today and if we’re going out on a limb, we’ll now see a decent bounce from here, while a rally in Telstra (TLS) supported the Telco’s.
We are selling Alumina (AWC) and Whitehaven Coal (WHC), adding to CSL, Resmed (RMD)& Qantas (QAN)
Local stocks got off to an encouraging start yesterday, with the index actually managing to edge higher early on ignoring the 800-point plunge by the Dow but things slowly but surely unwound throughout the day as aggressive selling hit the Resources Sector, perhaps some big players agree with MM that things have simply advanced too far too fast. Tuesday ultimately saw the ASX200 close down 0.8%, back under 7000, as profit taking appeared to roll through the energy stocks and miners while at the same time a number of the classic “risk off” areas such as healthcare…
Some cracks started to appear in the ASX today with the recently hot Energy & Materials sectors coming under pressure while the traditionally defensive Healthcare & Staples saw buying of recent weakness. All the talk has been about commodities in recent days/weeks and today some profit-taking became obvious, which shouldn’t come as a huge surprise really given the recent run.
We are tweaking the Flagship Growth Portfolio to become slightly more defensive in nature.
