The COB from ausbiz

The ASX 200 followed Wall St lower, with no real rhyme or reason, closing down 2.35%. Tech stocks like Afterpay were hammered as well as other growth companies such as Kogan and Pointsbet. Gold miners were a rare bright spot, boosted as risk-off sentiment took hold. Joining us on The Last Call today were Jonathan Pain (The Pain Report), Paul Colgan (CT Group), Stuart Roberts (Pitt St Research) and...

Green on the screen today as the major index recovered from yesterdays losses to close up 0.8%. The market opened strongly after a strong lead-in from Wall St, with investors encouraged by Fed Chair Jerome Powell hosing down inflation concerns. Higher oil prices pushed the energy sector up 1.6%, while healthcare jumped 1.4% after a strong H1 result from Ramsay Healthcare. In fact, all sectors were...

Tuesday's bounce proved to be fleeting with the ASX falling heavily in line with movements in regional markets and profit taking in cyclical sectors such as materials, energy and financials - all of which rallied hard in recent days. The ASX 200 index finished down 90% - it's lowest level since early February. The tech sector dipped 2.7%, dragged down by the buy-now-pay-later names, who face a cod...

The ASX200 came home strongly this afternoon to finish up 0.9% thanks to some massive gains in the REITs, resources and energy sectors. Tech dropped more than 4%, following the drop on the NASDAQ overnight. In fact, Afterpay was one of the biggest losers of the day, closing down 7.2%. An important speech from Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, tonight with markets watching his tightrope act on managin...

Australian equities had a relatively flat start to the week, although there was a lot of movement beneath the surface thanks to earnings results and some big moves in the Aussie dollar, bond yields, and Chinese commodity futures. Resource stocks outperformed, helping the materials sector to a gain of 2.8%. At the other end of the spectrum, sectors regarded as bond proxies, or which derive a large...

Profit taking was the name of the game today after a week of gains following a raft of healthy half-year results. The ASX 200 index finished down 1.34% with tech, REITs and consumer staples the only bright sparks, while energy (-3.6%), resources (-2.7%) and healthcare (-2.6%) were the laggards. Our top three VODs today are: Get educated on these three stock picks Dig says Cochlear is getting stron...

A choppy day for the local bourse, which saw the ASX 200 come home with a wet sail to finish up 0.01%. Healthcare led the gains thanks to the sector's biggest component stock, CSL, lifting 2.8% on strong results. Top stock of the day was Treasury Wine Estates, which reported a heavy drop in profits yesterday but signalled a strong recovery ahead, prompting a double upgrade from JP Morgan today - f...

After a mixed lead from Wall St the ASX briefly entered green territory this morning before profit taking pushed the market south. A long list of companies reported half-yearly results with Webjet and Corporate Travel Management outperforming, Domino's continuing to rise but it was EML Payments that really shot the lights out. BNPL (including Z1P) came off the boil, but the miners (gold miner...

A stellar day for the local bourse, with the ASX 200 closing up 0.7% to an 11-month high. Energy, materials and health led the gainers with tech, retailers and healthcare down. Big news out late this afternoon with three senior executives at Fortescue Metals resigning, including COO Greg Lilleyman, over a rumoured cost blowout in the Iron Bridge project in WA. With first-half results out on T...

The local bourse began the week strongly - up 0.9% - rebounding after an out of cycle decline on Friday with no deterioration in other markets. Miners, tech and energy were the big gainers with utilities and REITs the laggards. Aerial imaging company, Nearmap (NEA), leapt 19% after reporting positive half-year results and roundly slamming accusations of creative bookkeeping from US short sell...

After a lacklustre lead in from Wall St, the local market climbed briefly into positive territory before the announcement of a 5-day stage-4 lockdown in Melbourne spoiled the party. It was all down hill from there with the ASX 200 closing down 0.6%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin hit a new high of US$48,975 after US bank, BNY Mellon announced it would finance crypto-currencies. If you're at a loose end over t...

With Asian markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday and a soft lead in from Wall St, the name of the game for the local market was consolidation of recent gains - the ASX 200 closing down 1%. On the reporting front, Newcrest Mining's first-half underlying profit of $533 million (up 134% year-on-year) was 18% above consensus but RBC Capital still hinted that investors may need to "tread carefu...

Markets bounced back after rare bout of weakness on Tuesday boosted by solid gains in the tech, utilities and REITs sectors. The ASX 200 closed up 0.52% at 6,856.90. The BNPL names were a standout, led by Zip Co, which surged another 12% to record highs despite no news being released. Despite reporting solid first half results. CBA shares came under pressure, making the broader financial sect...

After a strong start to February, profit taking set in on the local market today. Early gains evaporated as the session progressed. Losses were led by utilities and REITs, hit by a continued move higher in longer dated bond yields. The major index ended down 0.8%. Ahead of Commonwealth Bank's first-half report tomorrow, financials also gave back ground with the sector closing down 0.7%. Mater...

Big day for cyclicals today with the major index up 0.6% to an 11-month high. Banks, energy miners, (BHP, RIO and FMG all up 2-3%) led the way. Tech also up 0.8%. Zip Co closed up more than 13% despite no company related news being released. Vocus was up a similar amount after a $3.4 billion takeover offer from Macquarie's infrastructure arm. Reporting season really kicks into gear tomorrow with n...

The ASX finished up with largest weekly gain this year, propelled by strong gains across most sectors. Materials and metals and mining were the only sectors to close down. The major index was up a healthy 1.1% today. News Corp closed up more than 12.8% after announcing its most profitable quarter in seven years, helped by increases in Foxtel's streaming subscribers. On today's episode of The...

A dour day on the market with the major index closing down 0.9%. With so much good news now priced in, and after three days of gains, it was just a bit too hard for the market to kick higher again. All sectors ended up in the red. AGL Energy was down 3.6% after announcing a $2.6 billion writedown due to the fall in power prices from sharper than expected uptake of rooftop solar as well as inc...

The local market added to Monday and Tuesday's gains to close up 0.9% today, with positivity abounding as we head into reporting season. Financials, real estate and CSL led the gainers as investors searched for value and RBA Governor Philip Lowe stated that he did not expect the official cash rate to rise for four years. Meanwhile, tech and materials were down today - dragged down by tightening of...

Renewed stimulus hopes and a surprise extension of QE sparked another strong rally in the local market with the ASX 200 closing up 1.49%, adding to the sharp turnaround seen at the start of the week. Technology-led the gains, mirroring what was seen on the NASDAQ and Wall St overnight, with Afterpay surging 7.91%. Most other sectors recorded gains of 1% including financials, as optimism grows arou...

The local bourse recovered from a morning dive into the red to close up 0.8% as news came out that short positions in GameStop had been substantially reduced and start-of-month flows kicked in. Also contributing was positive housing finance data, both for owner-occupiers and investors, pointing to an expansion of credit growth, which pushed financials up 0.9%. Healthcare and the miners also had a...

What a week it was. Was it Wall St taking on Main St or vice versa? Was it market manipulation? Whatever you want to call it, US regulators will need to take a good hard look at the events of this week in order to maintain market integrity. The local market closed out the day down 0.6% to record its worst week since October. Financials and miners weighed while retail, healthcare and industrials fi...

The local bourse followed the sell off on Wall St to record its worst day in almost four months. The ASX 200 closed down 1.9%. In fact only one tenth of the Chi-X X2C 200 index finished in the green today. Is this the start of the anticipated correction that the market needs in order to go higher? Thanks to all of you who have completed our subscriber survey. We really appreciate you taking the ti...

You may have noticed a few changes to the ausbiz lineup for 2021. We've welcomed new presenters on air; Annette Beacher who brings 30+ years of experience in economics and macro strategy, and Kara Ordway who's made the move to broadcast from a career in trading and risk. We've also launched two new shows; one for experienced traders (The Trade) and another for people still learning the ropes of in...

Predictably volumes were down today ahead of Tuesday's Australia Day holiday. Despite this, the ASX200 edged higher, up 0.26% reflecting a broadly positive session across Asia as financial markets weigh up the risks of ongoing bullishness. Financials made modest gains, while the materials sector was mixed although the big miners performed strongly. A sharp drop in oil prices hit energy s...

After two days of 11-month highs, the ASX200 took a break today, closing down 0.43%. The iron ore miners and banks led the losers and Afterpay dropped 5.5% on profit taking after hitting a new high this week. REITs, consumer staples and discretionary, healthcare and communications finished in the green. Meanwhile, Bitcoin dropped 11% overnight after a report suggested that there was a critica...