Archives: Reports
A mildly positive session at the index level, with solid banks offset by weakness in CSL that detracted over 20 index points from the main board alone. Elsewhere, some hits and misses as reporting season ramps up.
We are taking profit on a retail holding today in the Active Growth Portfolio
The ASX200 recovered a further +0.5% on Monday, although it wasn’t an overly impressive day for the Australian market. The local index surrendered ~40% of its early morning gains, closing near the day’s low. The resources sector continued to weigh on the broader market, e.g. Beach Energy (BPT) -12.6%, Mineral Resources (MIN) -3.8%, Fortescue (FMG) -1.4%, and BHP group (BHP) -0.5%. The banks again boosted the index from a points perspective, although the retailers provided some of the best performances after JB Hi-Fi’s (JBH) solid result, plus a surprise 80c fully franked special dividend and a positive trading update for July helped send the household name up over 8%.
An okay session for the ASX today, though it traded a long way below the session highs as sellers came in throughout the day. Results from JB Hi-Fi (JBH) and CAR Group (CAR) both solid, underpinning good rallies from both. We’re not getting too optimistic on the broader market though, and wouldn’t be surprised to see more volatility/downside play out from here i.e. we’re sticking with our more cautious short term stance.
A quick look at the US VIX (volatility) Index, largely renamed “Fear Gauge,” puts the last few weeks’ panic selling into perspective. The BOJ’s rate hike, combined with fears that the Fed was going to push the US into a recession by cutting interest rates too slowly, sent shockwaves through global equities, although ultimately, the ASX200 and S&P 500 only fell 6.4% and 9.7%, respectively. However, it was the manner of sharp declines which caught a relatively complacent market, which had been revelling in new all-time highs through much of July, napping:
The ASX200 experienced yet another rollercoaster of a week, finally ending down -2.1%, but it was much worse before Friday’s strong +1.25 broad-based bounce. However, the bulls mustn’t get carried too away after the end-of-week jump; the index has only recovered around 30% of its sharp losses since the unwinding of the Yen “Carry Trade” sent shock waves through financial markets. Reporting season is starting to have an impact on major over/underperformers, but it’s likely to be far more pronounced next week as things really get underway this week. Only the Utilities Sector finished last week in positive territory, with the Energy, Tech and Financial Sectors weighing heavily on the main index:
A good way to end a very volatile week for equities with the ASX rallying nicely in a broad based move, 90% of the ASX 200 finishing up on the day. For the week, the ASX lost 2.1%, not too bad considering, with Utilities being the lone sector to end the 5-days in the green.
Further consolidation at the index level today, though there was some big moves in stocks and some clear divergence across sectors, unfortunately, we were end of a downgrade from Mirvac (MGR) while weakness amongst resources and energy stocks worked against us.
