Rinse and repeat

The ASX undid all the hard work from early in the session to trade flat early in the afternoon before strong futures led buying in the match helped the index close just shy of the day’s high. Barring some weakness in energy, it was a continuation of yesterday’s session – banks were strong, iron ore names did well and tech & healthcare were sold off. NAB was the latest macro commentator to lower their RBA cash rate forecasts to 0.5% which yield plays higher today. The call is aggressive particularly given the recent moves in yields over recent days. But it did help the index trade in the black.

Tabcorp (TAH) – a stock we hold in the Platinum and Income portfolios – closed flat today despite the good news that the AFP had closed an investigation into suspect payments into the PNG. Whitehaven (WHC) was up over 4% again today as the market buys into the investor day tomorrow. We will be watching this closely as we have a short leash on the Whitehaven position. TPG (TPM) was up reasonably well today – the telco is in front of the courts at the moment arguing with the ACCC over its proposed merger with Vodafone – plenty more to play out here.

Overall, the ASX 200 was up +23pts today or 0.36% to 6638, Dow Futures are now trading up 37pts /0.14%.

ASX 200 Chart

ASX 200 Chart

CATCHING OUR EYE;

Golds; we bought into Evolution today as gold continues its slide, taking a small 3% in the stock. We took decent profits in the VanEck Gold Miner ETF and Newcrest (NCM) recent, with both trading lower since the sales. We like gold and feel the roll off in gold facing names over the past week or so is counter to the trend which provides us a good re-entry point. We chose Evolution this time around as it has better leverage in. most gold positions closed well off the lows today in a sign that selling may have been exhausted in the short term.

Evolution (EVN) Chart

Broker moves;

• Pilbara Minerals Resumed at Macquarie With Outperform; PT A$0.60
• Nine Entertainment Reinstated Overweight at JPMorgan; PT A$2.55
  
• Seven West Reinstated at JPMorgan With Overweight; PT A$0.65
  
• Harvey Norman Downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT A$4

Major Movers Today

Never miss an update