ASX 200 kicks off the week with a 16-point gain to 7046. Lack of conviction driving thin trade. Resources under pressure as China continues to pressure prices through any means it can. Iron ore miners fell, BHP off 1.8% and FMG down 4.2%. Base metal miners also under pressure as OZL fell 4.6% and WSA down 1.3%. Oil and gas stocks improved led by STO up 2.0% and WPL up 1.2%. Gold miners were generally better again, NCM up 2.7%, GOR up 5.8% and CHN up 4.8%. Banks again solid with the Big Bank Basket hitting $179.55. CBA up 0.7%, MQG failed to launch falling 1.4%. Insurers better too QBE up 1.0% and IAG 0.6% to the good. Industrials were mixed with WES up 1.0%, SYD down 1.5% and TPG down 2.6%. CSL led healthcare higher, RMD up 3.5% on a broker upgrade. Tech mixed, APT down 1.2% and XRO up 0.2%. The All-Tech Index barely breaking a sweat. In corporate news, ALL up 0.1%, first-half revenue $2.23bn vs year-ago $2.25bn. Declares interim dividend of 15c. A slew of management changes this morning, SGP down 0.4%, executiveand CIO Darren Rehn to retire. NST up 1.1%chair Bill Beament to step down. IFM down 5.8%,CFO Richard Leon tostep down in August. DMP up 4.6% and CTD up 3.9% on broker upgrades. ELD down 2.4% trading ex-dividend. Nothing on the economic front today, 10-year yields slipped to 1.70%. Asian markets slightly higher with Japan up 0.44% and China up 0.15%. Dow futures up 128.

Today’s Highlights

  • ASX 200 up 16 points to 7046
  • High 7062 Low 7015
  • Big Bank Basket rises to $179.55
  • All Tech Index flat
  • Dow futures up 128
  • Australian Gold rises to $2437
  • 10-year yield falls to 1.70%
  • AUD slips to 77.39c
  • Bitcoin volatility sees bounce from lows to US$35016
  • Asian markets slightly higher with Japan up 0.44% and China up 0.15%

END OF DAY PODCAST – ASX 200 closes up 16 to 7046 in convictionless trade. Big iron ore miners fell as China continues to talk down commodity prices, BHP off 1.8%, FMG down 4.2% with second line gold miners doing well today led by BGL up 7.4% and SLR up 5%. Banks continue to attract buyers with the Big Bank Basket up to $179.55. KGN bounced hard today up 14.7% and NXL rallied 3.1% on increased corporate governance. Nothing on the economic front. Dow futures up 128. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/967801/8575836

STOCKS

  • KGN +14.71% big bounce, Friday never happened.
  • CTT +6.34% luxury winner.
  • BGL +7.39% SLR +4.99% gold miners find friends.
  • WBT +7.45% Appendix 2A.
  • TNT +5.00% podcast winner.
  • POD -8.39% profit taking continues.
  • EM2 -8.64% visual copper mineralisation at The Talon.
  • FCL -7.79% thin volume.
  • SM1 -5.69% downgrades guidance.
  • RMD +3.50% JP Morgan upgrades.
  • BLD -0.74% official start to takeover offer kicks off tomorrow.
  • DMP +4.57% upgraded by Citi.
  • NXL +3.12% board changes.
  • VML – trading halt awaiting exploration results.
  • ADO -7.25% EuGeni Test Strip manufacturing strategy.
  • OZL -4.60% copper falls.
  • FMG -4.17% iron ore falls.
  • IPO of the Day: DGL Group +7.50% plenty of volatility on day one. Hi 108.5 lo 93.5
  • Speculative Stock of the Day: Caspin Resources (CPN) +112.79% broad sulphide zones intersected at Yarabrook Hill. Big volume too.
  • Biggest Winners: KGN, BGL, OCL, CTT, GPR, MMM and NVX
  • Biggest Losers: FCL, ADO, ABR, IFM, SM1, SXL and OZL.

TODAY

  • Stockland Group (SGP) +0.44% Executive and CIO Darren Rehn to retire, effective 31-May.
  • IOOF (IFL) -1/06% There is speculation IOOF Holdings will consider divesting Antares Capital and Intermede Investment Partners following completion of the MLC acquisition.
  • Northern Star Resources (NST) +1.07% Chair Bill Beament to step down, Michael Chaney appointed as his replacement, effective July 1. Chaney is currently chairman of Wesfarmers (WES) and was previously chairman of National Australia Bank (NAB).
  • Infomedia (IFM) -5.80% CFO Richard Leon to leave the company following the release of FY21 annual results on August 24. The Board has commenced the process of appointing a successor.
  • TPG Telecom (TPG) -2.58% Notes legacy cloud-based hosting service, TrustedCloud, was compromised in a recent cyber incident. Only two TrustedCloud customers had their data accessed in the incident. At this point, TPG does not believe any other TrustedCloud customers were impacted.
  • Nuix (NXL) +3.12% To expand its board and establish an independent sub-committee to review recent matters raised by the market; comprises Jeff Bleich, Iain Lobban and Sue Thomas.
  • Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) +0.12% First-half revenue $2.23bn vs year-ago $2.25bn. Declares interim dividend of 15c vs year-ago 0c. Normalised revenue in ANZ $209.1m vs year-ago $205.6m, Americas $810.2m vs year-ago $911.0m and Digital $1.19bn vs year-ago $1.04bn. Outlook: Expects sustainable growth in floor share across key Gaming Outright Sales markets globally. Sees further growth in Digital bookings, with User Acquisition spend expected to be modestly above the historic range of 25% and 28% of overall Digital revenues, pending timing and success of new game launches in 2H21. Investment likely to be modestly above historic levels, on a percentage of revenue basis. Increase in SG&A across the business as continue to scale and deliver growth strategy.
  • Hotel Property Investments (HPI) -unchanged- Acquires six Queensland assets from Australian Venue Co for $32.7m. The properties have a weighted average yield of 7.75% all leased to Australian Venue Co for 20 years from the acquisition date. To be funded from available debt facilities.
  • CIMIC (CIM) -1.26% JV with Ghella has been selected to deliver stage 1 of NSW’s M6.
  • Zip Co. (Z1P) +0.85% Expands into Europe and the Middle East through acquisitions of Twisto and Spotii for ~$160m.

ECONOMIC NEWS

  • Nothing today.

BOND MARKETS

CV19 NEWS

  • Four family members in Victoria have tested positive to CV19.
  • Vaccine Tracker: 1.65bn doses in 176 countries. 29.1m a day. In US, 286m doses so far at 1.83m doses a day.
  • India reported 222,315 new coronavirus infections on Monday, the lowest since April 16. 4,500 people died over the past 24 hours.
  • Japan’s large-scale vaccination centres in Tokyo and Osaka opened today, as the government pushes towards the goal to administer 1m doses a day and finish inoculating the country’s 36m over-65s by the end of July. Just in time for the Olympics that no one seems to want in Japan.

ASIAN NEWS

  • China now targeting hoarders and speculators to keep commodity prices in check. The government will show “zero tolerance” for monopolies in spot and futures markets, and for speculation and hoarding. Top metals producers were called to a meeting yesterday.

US AND EUROPEAN HEADLINES

  • Belarus forces Ryanair jet to land in Minsk. Everyone concerned by the use of military aircraft to divert the flight.
  • A median estimate of US economists calls for a 6.7% real growth rate in 2021, according to a survey from the National Association of Business Economists, up from the 4.8% forecast in the March survey.
  • The consumer price index will rise to 2.8% in the final three months of the year, on a year-over-year basis, then drop to 2.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022 according to the survey.
  • G7 close to a deal on tax for multi nationals.
  • Chelsea make Champions League next season.
  • UK lockdown lifting likely to go ahead on June 21st as planned.

And finally….

A guy goes in for a job interview and sits down with the boss.
The boss asks him, “What do you think is your worst quality?”
The man says “I’m probably too honest.”
The boss says, “That’s not a bad thing, I think being honest is a good quality.”
The man replies, “I don’t care about what you think!”

I asked the corporate wellness officer, “Can you teach me yoga?” He said, “How flexible are you?” I said, “I can’t make Tuesdays.”

When an employment application asks who is to be notified in case of emergency, I always write, “A very good doctor”.

Clarence

XXX