Tuesday 4th March – ASX 200 falls 48 – Banks steady – Canada and China fire back on Tariffs – MIN drops hard – Gold steady… | Beeks Downunder-Because not all financial news is boring!

The ASX 200 fell another 48 points today to 8198(0.6%). Trump’s tariff chaos continues with Mexico and Canadian levies due to take effect in days. Canada has already fired back, losses were tempered as banks found a footing. CBA rose 0.4% with WBC up 0.2% and the Big Bank Basket at $254.30 (). Financials were weaker, MQG down 1.2% and insurers down heavily as Alfred comes to QLD. QBE down 2.0% and SUN down 2.0%. REITs were weaker, GMG off another 0.9% with DXS bucking the trend up 1.6%. Healthcare weaker though CSL up 1.0% in defensive buying. Industrials fell across the board. Some love found for rate sensitive stocks, QAN rose 2.1% on oil price falls. Retail pushed lower, LOV down 3.5% and TPW off 5.3% with WEB falling 4.4% and GYG dropping another 4.4%. Tech dropped with the index down 0.8% Resources could have been worse. Iron ore stocks found some buying, BHP down 0.3% with RIO similar, FMG fell 3.4% with PLS down 3.8% and MIN off 10.2%. Gold miners firm but unspectacular, NEM down 0.9% and EVN up 1.6%. Energy stocks suffering big falls, WDS off 3.1% and STO down 4.7% with uranium stocks still toxic. In corporate news, IFL fell 5.6% as it declined to make an early debt repayment, HCW dropped 7.8% as Healthscope failed to pay some rental invoices. In economic news, RBA minutes showed RBA in no hurry to cut rates and retail sales rose by 0.3% in January. Steady as she goes. Asian markets weaker but 10-year yields continuing to fall to 4.27%.

HIGHLIGHTS

Winners: PPM, SPR, LYC, FPR, TLC, HLS, BFL
Losers: MIN, OPT, BOE, MSB, DVP, HCW
Positive Sectors: Gold miners.
Negative Sectors: Everything else.
ASX 200 Hi 8231 Lo 8150
Big Bank Basket: Steady at $254.30
All-Tech Index: Down 0.8%
Gold: Rises to AUD$4659
Bitcoin: Falls to US$83836
10-year yield falls to 4.26%.
AUD: Falls to 61.99c.
Asian markets down, Japan down 1.7%, HK up 0.1% and China up 0.1%.
Dow futures up 71 Nasdaq up 106

MARKET MOVERS

SPR +6.3% gold exposure.
LYC +2.9% rare earth rally.
FPR +2.7% broker upgrade.
CSL +1.0% defensive.
AFG +3.5% broker upgrade.
BOE -9.9% shorts in control.
MIN -10.2% breaks technical levels.
HCW -7.8% Healthscope update.
NEU -6.7% buy back update.
XYZ -5.0% crypto on the nose.
DUG -8.9% back in a hole.
IFL -5.6% declines NAB debt payment early.
PDN -4.9% uranium is toxic it seems.
Speculative Stock of the Day: EGR +19.1%

ECONOMIC AND OTHER NEWS

Retail Trade

Rose 0.3% month-on-month.
Rose 3.8% compared with January 2025.

The Reserve bank of Australia has published the minutes from its first board meeting of 2025. No commitment to further rate cuts.
Board members expressed “caution about the prospect of further policy easing, which could also be seen in the forecast for inflation based on the market path.”
Suncorp (SUN) said the federal government’s cyclone reinsurance pool provides cover for damage when a storm is classified as a cyclone and for an additional 48 hours after it is downgraded.
NSW government considering ‘range of contingencies’ on Star casino.
Iron ore slumped below $US100 a tonne for the first time since mid-January as some steel mills curbed production to ensure blue skies during the government’s upcoming policy meetings in Beijing.
Canada moves to put tariffs on US$160bn worth of US goods.
China ‘firmly rejects’ additional U.S. tariffs, says it will implement countermeasures. One state media outlet said Beijing was considering retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.
Tencent’s AI Bot Passes DeepSeek as China’s Favorite on iPhones.
Record number of Americans apply for UK citizenship.
Europeans move towards seizing €200bn of Russian assets.