Archives: Reports
A 2nd day of gains for the ASX as the market edged another ~0.5% higher thanks largely to a bounce-back in the IT stocks that never seem to stay down for too long, while weakness in Oil prices and the prospect of higher output saw the energy sector sold off.
We are switching from NAB into Bank of QLD (BOQ) in both the Growth & Income Portfolios
In the Emerging Companies Portfolio, we are selling Wisr (WZR) and buying Audinate (AD8)
We are buying Freeport McMoran (FCX US) in the International Equities Portfolio
The ASX200 rallied 0.9% yesterday although as has often been the case recently it peaked at midday before drifting 40-points through the afternoon following a nervous lead from US futures – unfortunately at the moment we’re embracing weakness in the US with far more enthusiasm than strength. Gains were encouragingly broad-based on Wednesday with over 70% of stocks closing up on the day with line honours going to the recently under pressure resources and financial stocks, it was also…
The ASX bounced back today with the heavyweight Materials & Financials leading the line after a tough start to the week, IT the only sector to finish lower. Buying was fairly broad based, ~75% of the ASX200 finishing higher and as we touched on this morning, some recovery started to play out amongst the beaten up bulk miners even though the underlying commodity prices remained on the nose.
The ASX200 again surrendered early gains on Tuesday and we ended the day down 0.6% with around 65% of stocks closing in negative territory, not a good Melbourne Cup for Australian equities. The value stocks were the standout losers as the market continued to worry about rising interest rates stifling global growth i.e. Financials -1.3%, Energy -1.1% & Materials -2.1%. China also continues to pressure the influential Australian iron ore and coal names but with panic comes both market tops and bottoms and as subscribers…
While the short odds favourite failed to get up in the cup today, the decision by the RBA at 2.30pm this afternoon to scrap yield targets and remove guidance for 2024 rate hikes was expected and that saw both bond yields and the AUD tick lower post the announcement.
The ASX was soft during early trade today, it bounced as the RBA took some uncertainty away but that didn’t last long and we sold off into the close, the material stocks providing the biggest drag as China facing commodities took a beating, Iron Ore limit down and Coal prices continued to slide. Don’t fight the PBOC the clear message at the moment!
Monday saw some healthy intra-day strength within the iron ore names and we feel they are now at or very close to a low hence making them excellent risk / reward buys – probably the question I’ve heard the most over recent weeks has been “when should we buy BHP, RIO, FMG etc” , MM thinks the answer is basically now. If the banks can regain their mojo sooner rather than later then we feel the ASX will be looking good into Christmas assuming there are no hand grenades lobbed in the market by the RBA at 2.30pm today, after which of course the nation has just 30-minutes to digest the news before casting there eyes to the nearest TV screen to watch 24 horses run 3200m in around 3.3 minutes – apparently, Incentivise is going to win!
The market got off to a very indecisive start today, giving up early gains to trade just marginally higher by 10.30am before buyers step up to the plate & carried the index higher. The financials sector was weighed by a poor FY21 report from Westpac (WBC), however it was the only sector to close lower on the day
The ASX 200 finished up 47pts/+0.64% today at 7470
Financials were the only sector to finish lower (-0.48%) on the back of weakness in Westpac (WBC) while the telco’s were supported by a strong move by Telstra (TLS)
Australian stocks succumbed to the ever increasing weight of interest rate speculation on Friday, the aggressive weakness on the last day of October actually resulted in it being a down month. Fortunately the US reversed losses by their futures during our time zone to make fresh highs on Friday which should provide a much needed boost to stocks this morning – the SPI futures are pointing to early gains of almost 1%. The specific pressures around the RBA appear to be the reason for the ASX’s position in the underperformance corner last month:
The AX200 was clobbered 1.44% on Friday to send the local index into the red for both the week and month, things were looking good on the open but the combination “end of month shenanigans” and bond market turmoil appeared to finally take its toll. There’s no doubt the last week of October 2021 will be remembered by all interest rate traders as the time the market kicked the RBA’s butt, whether its simply Round 1 or the end of Philip Lowes fixation on 2024 before we see higher Australian interest rates only time will tell
