ASX 200 fell 76 points to 6602 (1.1%) on next to no volumes. Closed on day low. US futures turned negative with big week ahead and profit-taking hitting last week’s winners. Banks fell with the Big Bank Basket down to $162.85 (0.2%). MQG slipped 1.7%, ASX off 1.8% and MFG rose 0.8%. Insurers held up as bond yields rose to 3.53%. Healthcare mixed, CSL up 0.2% with FPH and RMD snoozing, Industrials slipped, WES down 0.7%, TCL off 0.8% and GMG led REITs lower, falling 1.6%. ‘Old skool’ platforms, REA down 4.2%, SEK off 4.7% and CAR crashed 2.8%. Tech stocks were back in the seller’s sights today with second liners smacked again, DUB down 18.0%, PBH down 9.5% and CDA falling 6.2%. DMP dropped 6.3% on a broker downgrade. Resources were weak, BHP fell 3.1%, FMG off 2.6% with gold miners falling as NCM dropped 2.5%. Base metals and lithium stocks pushed lower S32 down 2.7% and PLS off 2.6%. Oil and gas were bright spots, WDS up 0.2% though STO fell 0.4%. In corporate news, EML lost a CEO falling 24.6%, LNK up 0.3% after knocking back Dye and Durham’s offer rejected. CGC fell hard, halted and came back with a business update and bounced at the close down 8.0%. GAL had some good assays rising 5.9%. In economic news, building approvals fell 1.5%. Asian markets mixed with HK tech down heavily but Tokyo up 1.44% on election result. 10-year yields 3.53%.

• Winners: NHC, SHV, ACL, PBL, IMU, INR
• Losers: FCL, NVX, PBH, CGC, SLX, STA
• Positive sectors: Healthcare.
• Negative sectors: Iron ore. Lithium. Base metals. Gold. Tech. Financials

• High 6674 Low 6602. Closed on lows
• Big Bank Basket: Falls to $162.85 (0.2%)
• All-Tech index: Down 3.2%
• Gold: Flat at $2554
• Bitcoin: Heading higher at US$20,504
• Aussie Dollar: Lower at 68.07c
• 10-Year Yield:  Higher at 3.53%
• Asian markets: Japan up 1.4% on the election result. HK falls 3.3% on lockdowns and tech sell-off. China down 1.2%
• US Futures: Dow down 229. Nasdaq down 144
• European markets pointing to a weak start.

MAJOR MOVERS

• GAL +5.88% highest grade assays to date.
• OBL +3.49% investment committee update.
• ADO +5.00% performance validated by two global battery companies
• AGI -11.17% director appointments.
• EML -24.61% CEO steps down suddenly.
• DUB -17.99% profit-taking.
• WSP -6.49% profit-taking.
• BBT -6.48% slide continues.
• CGC -7.99% market update.
• SLX -6.84% profit-taking.
• PBH -9.49% slides back.
• NVX -11.38% smashed again. Better volume.
• Speculative Stock of the Day:  Nothing shakin’ but the trees.

IN THE NEWS

• EML Payments (EML) – Emma Shand to be MD and CEO following the resignation of Tom Cregan.
• Beach Energy (BPT) appoints acting CFO Anne-Marie Barbaro as CFO.
• Metcash (MTS) -KKR discloses 5% interest.
• Costa Group (CGC) – paused trading of its shares temporarily pending a further announcement.
• Link Administration (LNK) – Unable to recommend Dye & Durham’s offer. Full-year revenue $1.18bn vs consensus $1.18bn. Operating EBITDA $250m vs consensus $247.9m. Revenue currently projected to increase by a low single digit percentage in FY23.
• ASX Limited (ASX) – chief financial officer Gillian Larkins said she would leave at the end of August.
• Klarna is close to announcing an $US800m funding round at a valuation of less than $US6bn, investors could include the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

ECONOMIC NEWS/ BOND MARKETS

Building Approvals key statistics

• Total dwellings approved fell 1.5%.
• Private sector houses approved fell 0.5%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 2.5%.
• The value of non-residential buildings fell 1.5%.

The May 2022 seasonally adjusted estimate:

• Total dwellings approved rose 9.9%.
• Private sector houses approved fell 2.7%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 32.0%.
• The value of non-residential buildings rose 16.5%.

ASIAN MARKETS

• Japan’s ruling coalition expanded its majority in an upper house election held Sunday. The LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito won 76 seats well above the 56 it needed to retain a majority.
• Macau’s 30 casinos will shut for one week and people were ordered to stay at home
• The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped as much as 3.7%, with Alibaba among the top losers after plunging 6%. Tencent fell a maximum of 3.2%.

US AND EUROPEAN HEADLINES

• European stocks are expected to open 1-1.5% lower on Monday.
• Bitcoin is more likely to tumble to $10,000, cutting its value roughly in half, than it is to rally back to $30,000, according to 60% of the 950 investors who responded to the latest MLIV Pulse survey.

• Wirecard forged client details to secure €900mn investment from SoftBank.
• Twitter hires US law firm Wachtell to sue Musk for ending $44bn takeover.
• Commerce secretary warns cutting China tariffs will not significantly ease inflation.
• The Drewry’s composite World Container Index. Showing signs of a serious pullback.

And finally…..

Yesterday my daughter emailed me again, asking why I didn’t do something useful with my time. “Like sitting around the pool and drinking wine is not a good thing?” I asked.

Her talking about my “doing-something-useful” seems to be her favourite topic of conversation. She was “only thinking of me”, she said and suggested that I go down to the RSL and hang out with the gals.

I did this and when I got home last night, I decided to play a prank on her. I e-mailed her and told her that I had joined a parachute club.  

She replied, “Are you nuts? You are 78 years old and now you’re going to start jumping out of airplanes?”

I told her that I even got a membership card and scanned and emailed a copy to her.

She immediately telephoned me and yelled, “Good grief, Mum, where were your glasses when you signed up? This is a membership to a prostitute club, not a parachute club”.

“Oh man, I’m in trouble again,” I said, “I really don’t know what to do. I signed up for five jumps a week!” The line went quiet and her daughters husband picked up the phone and said that my daughter had fainted.

Clarence

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