The COB from ausbiz

It was a bottom left-top right kind of day, within a whisker of a fresh record high by lunchtime. Mineral Resources share price leapt as it plans to increase lithium production at two of its mines, calling demand for lithium "unprecedented." But generally, it was a tech-led rally, not because rates aren’t rising but because Elon Musk snapped up 9.2% of Twitter. The RBA today dropped...

The local market had a positive start to the week, but volumes were thin. Whether the inverted US yield curve foretells a recession is still topic du jour. It was an M&A start to this Monday with Perpetual bidding $2.4 billion for Pendal, the latter share price trading over 23% at one stage, ending the day 18% higher. Otherwise, lithium stocks picked up where Friday left off. Iluka Resour...

The local market sagged in early trade, with resources the only green on screen. Some broker reports gave the oil sector the nod, and so Santos and Woodside closed higher. Allkem jumped on the back of its price upgrade and finished over 8% higher. Pilbara Minerals wasn't far behind, and AVZ Minerals rounded out the top three. Meanwhile, it was a soggy one for tech and financials. For the firs...

The local market was buoyant all day, with a jump in the iron ore price pushing the resource sector to a new record high. Blue chips Rio, Fortescue and BHP all closed up between 2-4.5%. After the relentless rally in financials, investors cooled on the idea and took some profits. Harvey Norman closed down 6% as it went ex-dividend. Block, Xero and Zip all finished around 3-5% lower as tech was once...

We’d like to say the Budget spurred today’s “seventh heaven” winning streak, but the yield curve is more likely responsible for key market moves. The tech sector again responded to lower longer-dated bond yields, although a bump in the industrial sector took out first prize. It seems profit-taking dragged down some popular names like Incitec Pivot, Whitehaven Coal and Liontown. Financials qui...

Posting a six-day winning streak puts the ASX back to mid-January levels ahead of tonight’s federal budget. Inverted yield curves juiced up tech names, the sector closing up 3%. Block went like a bullet, closing up 6.8%, but Telix Pharma topped that, closing up nearly 10% . Small-cap NearMap added a whopping 18% after its update. Uniti Group received a revised $5 per share proposal from the Morris...

It was a good start to the week, with banks and resources - houses and holes - keeping the market buoyant. In contrast, a surge in bond yields ate into tech stocks. Lithium and food-related stocks were back in the spotlight today. Iluka Resources, AVZ Minerals and Washington H Soul Patts put on a good show for investors. Today’s laggards were largely tech-related names like Xero and Tyro Payments,...

It's been a tussle all week long between the value plays (banks and miners) and the tech stocks. Today, it was a day for the materials with that sector up more than 1.4%. Healthcare and IT were among the laggards while the S&P/ASX 200 VIX fell like a stone following its Wall Street equivalent. The local market finished on a two-month high - up 0.4%. Australian three-year government bond y...

Markets are like watching a windscreen wiper, where resources and tech vie for biggest gainer position on alternate days. Today, it was resources up and tech down. Utilities and energy names featured in the top ten as oil and natural gas surged on fresh supply risks from Russia. While the likes of Zip, Telix Pharma and City Chic made up a mixed bag of laggards. Fisher & Paykel slid again,...

It was a powerhouse for the contrarian trade with the froth blown off the resources sector and the goldies, while tech caught a tailwind. A late contender for the top of the ladder was Uniti, closing up nearly 11% on a Macquarie consortium bid at the 11th hour. Up until then, med-tech Imugene was comfortably in the lead after announcing a green light for a trial, closing up nearly 10%. With a some...

Australia's dominance in the resources space in these volatile times saw the local market open up strongly. Energy and commodities more broadly were bid up at the open, with financials joining the blue-chip exuberance. At the top of the ladder, eight out of the top 10 were resources, including lithium plays AVZ Minerals, Allkem and Liontown. Old-school BHP and Whitehaven Coal also featured. F...

The market opened well and traded in a sea of green, but as the oil price rose and US futures fell (and no prime rate cut from China) the red started to creep back in across the screens. Tech led early gains as aggressive front-end rate hikes ironically drag down long-end yields, in turn boosting growth stocks. Block jumped 9%, and the info tech sector ended 2.5% higher. CSL dragged down the...

Another day and another choppy trading session, continuing what was a largely upbeat, but volatile week. Today, resources and energy were on investors’ shopping list. Strange bedfellows Block, Imugene and Paladin were at the top of the ladder, closing at least 7% higher on the day, but the thematic was outperformance across miners and energy stocks. In contrast, Megaport sat at the bottom of...

No nasty surprises from the Fed signalled a green light to buy up … the BNPL space apparently, led by giant leaps in Block and Zip. The top sectors were industrials followed by tech. There wasn't a discernible theme to the top ten stocks, aside from all boats floated on the global wave of St Patrick’s green. The laggards were peppered with recently-loved coal, gold and wheat. Graincorp slumped 2.8...

Yet another step down in commodity prices didn’t deter our local bourse, as it opened higher and maintained decent gains throughout the day. Every sector added to the upbeat trading session, a green bar phenomenon not seen for a while. After a few brutal days, tech companies were back on the shopping list today. Block led the pack to close up nearly 8% with WiseTech and Xero not far behind. Travel...

Commodities took another step down overnight, so the local market opened lower and stayed in a very tight trading range all session. Diplomacy talks were interpreted as a signal to sell resources and safe havens, and allow the Fed to hike even more this year, sending bond yields higher and tech stocks lower. Where did the growth money go? Well, financials performed well after some positive broker...

Defying the dire weekend news from Ukraine, a sea of green greeted investors outside of the resources space. Financials opened higher and stayed there. CBA once again made its way above $100, while a 2.6% pop in CSL helped healthcare along. The ASX/200 top 10 were a disparate bunch, Pendal Group and Elders being strange bedfellows. However, Elders shot the lights out with its trading update,...

A hawkish ECB, combined with soaring US inflation and failed diplomatic talks sent many investors straight to the exit today. The handful of stocks that closed in the green were skewed towards commodities, food and energy. Champion Iron and Allkem, both closed 4% higher. Meanwhile, food inflation provided a tailwind for Incitec Pivot fertiliser, so its share price crept back to levels last se...

Chatter of expanding oil supply and diplomacy in the Russia-Ukraine conflict talks triggered a selloff in commodities across the board. Materials, gold and energy were the laggards in an otherwise buoyant local market. Tech climbed higher again, led by Block and Zip. The market embraced Sezzle’s job cuts, so it closed up nearly 9%. Uranium darling Paladin finished up 15% to take took out the top s...

Local investors were flung into a soaring oil market this morning, after the US formally banned Russian oil imports. Energy and gold stocks provided stablisation again, while tech's four-day losing streak finally came to an end, with Block closing up 6%, and the tech sector leading the market higher. Materials underperformed, but only after a stellar run. The top of the S&P/ASX200 la...

The local market fell alongside the rain today, with the ASX/S&P200 closed 58 points lower, or -0.8% The top of the ASX200 ladder was St Barbara, closing 9% higher. While the gold price nudged $2000oz, there were M&A whispers as well. At the bottom of a big heap was BlueScope, despite a broker upgrade, kept company by South32. Defying flat-yield-curve logic, financials closed higher. Healt...

All roads led back to the commodities space today as Brent crude topped US$130 a barrel and never looked back. The crude surge took every other commodity along with it - from wheat to iron ore to nickel. Energy stocks were among the outperformers today. Woodside finished the session up more than 8.5% while Beach Energy knocked on the door of 6% gains at one point. Gold stocks also performed w...

After a risk-defying four-day winning streak, the threat of a turbulent weekend scared investors into taking some cash off the table. Paladin saw the biggest loss, closing down more than 15%, as a fire at a Ukraine nuclear facility dampened appetite for uranium. The tech sector was heavy, closing down well over 1%. Commodity futures were upbeat for iron ore, nickel and coal, but this didn't t...

The local market appears Teflon-coated, powering to a fifth consecutive gain on continued buying in materials and energy names. The S&P/ASX 200 lifted 0.5%, closing at 7151 points. Rumours China is seeking to secure key commodity supplies, along with speculation the government may soon abandon its zero COVID policies, saw commodity prices spiral higher yet again, led this time by iron ore and...

The local market appears Teflon-coated, powering to a fifth consecutive gain on continued buying in materials and energy names. The S&P/ASX 200 lifted 0.5%, closing at 7151 points. Rumours China is seeking to secure key commodity supplies, along with speculation the government may soon abandon its zero COVID policies, saw commodity prices spiral higher yet again, led this time by iron ore and...