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ASX 200 fell 32 points to 7780 in quiet trade. Winding down for Easter early it seems. Conflicting consumer sentiment surveys not helpful. Resources once again the problem. Iron ore down in Asian trade, hurting commodity stocks across the board.  After a steady start, lithium in China slid and iron ore under pressure. FMG dropped 1.2%, BHP off 0.6% and lithium stocks under serious pressure again. PLS down 3.6%, and MIN dropping 2.8%. Gold stocks were a small voice of calm, NST up 1.6% and EVN up 0.6%, Oil and gas also doing ok finally, WDS completed the sale of part of a gas project, rising 1.0%. Coal stocks flat, uranium stocks falling hard too. Banks falling slightly, with the Big Bank Basket down to $208.36 (-0.3%). Tech slipped, XRO down 2.7%, and WTC off 2.3%. Healthcare fell too, CSL down 0.4% and RMD off 1.1%. In corporate news, MSB surprised with some rare good news from the FDA, rising 45.5% on a serious short squeeze, SVW pushed back on the BLD independent valuation, PMV rose 4.4% as Lew talked about demerging Smiggle and Peter Alexander. On the economic front, consumer surveys from ANZ and WBC showed divergence. Asian markets pretty flat on low-commitment days. 10y yields at 4.057%. Dow and NASDAQ Futures up 0.1%. 

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Winners: KAR, COE, SGR, PMV, ELD, BRG, A4N
  • Losers: WC8, SFR, LOT, LTM, WBT, SVW, ILU
  • Positive sectors: Oil and gas. Gold miners.
  • Negative sectors: Lithium. Iron ore. REITs. Tech.
  • ASX 200 Hi 7812 Lo 7776
  • Big Bank Basket: Down to $208.36 (0.3%)
  • All-Tech Index:  Down 1.1%
  • Gold: Steady at $3320.
  • Bitcoin: Rallies to US$70,526.
  • 10-year Bounces back to 4.04%
  • AUD: Better at 65.39c.
  • Asian markets were mixed, Japan down 0.6%, HK up 0.5% and China up 0.4%.
  • Dow Futures up 10 Nasdaq futures up 29

MAJOR MOVERS

  • KAR +6.1% kicks higher on oil price.
  • PMV +4.4% separation bounce.
  • BPT +2.9% crude price rises.
  • MSB +45.5% FDA approvals closer.
  • CAT +21.0% not sure why? ASX ‘Please Explain’.
  • CKA +10.0% receives payment from loading 7500 tonnes of coal.
  • WDS +1.0% sells 10% of gas project to LNG Japan.
  • WC8 -6.7% lithium falls.
  • LOT -4.8% uranium drop.
  • SFR -5.0% copper unwinds.
  • MIN -2.8% commodity stocks retreat.
  • SEK -2.4% resignation of CFO.
  • 29M -25.9% it rains mainly on Capricorn. Again. Project suspended.
  • BLD -2.0% Seven Group questions independent report.
  • Speculative Stock of the Day: Many Peaks (MPK) +174% agreement to divest Ferke and Odienne projects.

COMPANY NEWS

ECONOMIC AND OTHER HEADLINES

  • The Westpac Banking survey showed consumer sentiment declined 1.8% to 84.4 points, with pessimists heavily outweighing optimists, given a reading of 100 is the dividing line.
  • Chinese regulators are pushing banks to speed up approvals of new loans to cash-starved private property developers.
  • Adam Neumann makes a conditional offer to regain control of WeWork.
  • Japan relaxes defence export rules to allow sales of new fighter jet.
  • Trump’s SPAC begins trade tonight. His net worth has soared by more than $4bn in advance of the merger with DWAC. Trump owns nearly 80m shares, or roughly 58%, of Trump Media, which operates his social media site Truth Social. Ticker Symbol DJT. The company revenue was a mere US$3.5m in the first nine months of 2023. Trump is embargoed from selling.

And finally….

Clarence

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