ASX 200 rallied 39 points to 8231 (0.5%) with a better US market giving us the lead. Banks though were once again weaker as resources continued to find buyers. All change for 25! BHP rose 1.4% on stronger iron ore prices, FMG rallied 2.9% with gold miners also better despite falling bullion prices, a broker report helping sentiment. NST up 1.9% and EVN up 1.3% with lithium stocks finding friends, MIN up 2.0% and LYC up 1.6%. Energy stocks once again better, WDS up 0.5% and coal and uranium stocks better, PDN up 3.4% and WHC up 6.6%. Banks slipped ever so slightly with the Big Bank Basket at $249.96 (-0.3%). Insurers rose and other financials mixed. PNI down 1.9% and ZIP falling 1.4%. REITs improved with GMG up 0.4% and SCG rising 1.1%. Industrials better, retail though still under pressure. JBH off 1.6% and PMV and MYR both down again. Travel stocks in demand, FLT up 0.6% and CTD up 2.2%. Tech still under a little pressure with the All–Tech Index up 0.4% with WTC off 1.3%. In corporate news, MSB raised more money at 250c, CCX jumped 14.6% on a trading update. Iron ore surged back over $100 a tonne as Chinese imports reached a record. No local economic news. In Asian Markets, Japan played some catch up after a holiday yesterday and fell over 2% with both China and HK both showing plus 1% gains.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Winners: INA, IFM, OPT, WHC, TAH, JLG
• Losers: IPX, PDO, MSB, SPR, APX, KGN
• Positive Sectors: Iron ore. REITs. Insurers. Gold miners. Energy.
• Negative sectors: Banks. Tech.
• ASX 200 Hi 8253 Lo 8198
• Big Bank Basket: Lower at $ 249.96 (-0.3%)
• All-Tech Index: Up 0.4%
• Gold: Lower at AUD$4312
• Bitcoin: Higher at US$94882
• 10-year yields eased to 4.61%
• AUD: Higher at 61.90c
• In Asian markets, Japan down 2.3% – HK up 1.4down 1.4% and China up 1.7%.
• Dow Futures up 70    Nasdaq up 93

MARKET MOVERS

• INA +15.0% FY 25 Guidance increase.
• OPT +6.7% Corporate presentation.
• PNV +5.9% change of director’s interest.
• JLG +6.0% Newsletter write up!
• ETM +16.3% Greenland in focus.
• HFR +10.2% Yankuang Energy gets FIRB approval for shareholding at 50c.
• SGR +12.0% substantial shareholder.
• MSB -9.3% taps shareholders again at 250c.
• MYR -4.6% sell off continues.
• DRO -3.4% shorts having fun.
• KGN -5.0% retailing on the nose.
• Speculative Stock of the Day: WLD +105.5% on news it had sold a ship for US$50m and planned to return at least 15c to investors.

Companies

• BHP ( +1.4%) Ahead of quarterly earnings on 21 January, Macquarie is expecting the big miner to report copper production 4% below expectations and iron ore to meet expectations.
• Chinese imports of iron ore rose last year as reported on Friday. Thermal coal hit a record high, up 14.4%. Copper imports rose 3% but have been holding in a tight trading range since peaking in 2020. More below.
• Goldman Sachs has upgraded NST (+1.9%) to ‘buy’, saying Aussie gold miners will benefit this year from rises in bullion more than offsetting rising operational costs.
• Magellan (MFG +1.4%) – Held in both Growth and Income. Appoints Michelle Mutchnik as Interim CFO. The company has also been upgraded to neutral by BofA.
• Westpac Consumer Confidence has risen from -2% in December to -0.7% in January. The November number came in at +5.3%. Confidence around the economic outlook this year was unchanged. The bulk of the fall was attributed to the falling AUD and its perceived impact on delaying rate cuts in Australia.
• Mesoblast (MSB -9.3%) back after a trading halt. $260m has been raised at $2.50 a share from existing major shareholders.
• CAR Group (CAR +2.7%) reiterated guidance and will be exiting Australian Tyres business unit. Not material. Not much detail on the outlook ahead of full year results on 10 February.
• Telix Pharmaceuticals (TLX +4%) releases a positive confessions season announcement. Full year earnings of $783m has beaten guidance of $745m-$776m.

ECONOMIC AND OTHER NEWS

• Consumers pared back their spending in January, according to Westpac’s sentiment barometer, after a frenzy of holiday spending prompted some Australians to reassess their finances.
• The Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index declined to 92.1 in January, falling 0.7 of one percentage point from 92.8 in December.
• ANZ’s survey showed confidence fell by a moderate 0.4 points in the second week of January to 87.1. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence barometer gathers its metric from a survey of 1505 interviews.
• China discusses sale of US TikTok to Elon Musk.
• China’s top securities regulator said it will work on building a mechanism to stabilize the market.
• Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming economic team are discussing slowly ramping up tariffs month by month, a gradual approach aimed at boosting negotiating leverage while helping avoid a spike in inflation.
• LA braces for more wild winds and fires.
• Spain proposes 100% tax on property purchases for non-EU buyers.
• Robinhood to pay biggest fine among more than $100mn imposed by SEC.
• Big US banks set for $31bn quarterly profit as Wall Street business booms.

And finally…..

Clarence

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