The Match Out: ASX down, A solid week for Financials, Not so for Materials, Enjoy the weekend

It was a poor session to end the week, the market giving back most of yesterday’s gains. It almost felt like everyone lost interest after a busy week, with volumes light and no impetus to step up and buy anything ahead of the weekend. For the week, the ASX was only marginally lower. But under the hood it was a different story, the two heavyweight sectors being the Materials -3.44% versus the Financials +2.20% on either end of the performance spectrum.

• The ASX 200 finished down -67pts/ -0.94% at 7063

• The Utility sector was best on the ground (+0.54%) while Energy bounced back (0.34%) after yesterday’s sharp decline.

• IT (-3.21%) back in the losers circle after two days on topping the leader board while Healthcare (-2.26%) also gave back some recent gains.

• The broader Financial Sector was solid this week up +2.20%, we wrote about our views on the banks this morning posing the question, should we be loading up? Click Here
• Iron Ore was up in Asia, +1.51%

• Gold was lower, down US$11 at US$1985

• Asian stocks were all down, Hong Kong off -2.78%, Japan off -2.66% while China was down -2.09%

• US Futures are all down about 0.40%.

ASX 200

Podcast series

Two podcasts released this week on Not an Overnight Success – Layne Beachley and Mark Bouris.

The podcast with Layne is well worth a listen. Interesting and entertaining, Layne has a great, straight down the line communication style.

Click on the link to listen

The second this week is one I haven’t gotten to yet, but I’m sure it’s a cracker! Mark Bouris is in the hot seat….Click on the link to listen

As with every episode, we’re donating $10,000 to the guest’s charity of choice.

Sectors this week (Source: Bloomberg)

Stocks this week (Source: Bloomberg)

Broker moves

• Nickel Mines Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$1.30

• Regis Resources Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$2.40

• Perseus Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$2

• Evolution Cut to Underperform at Macquarie; PT A$4.30

• Gold Road Cut to Underperform at Macquarie; PT A$1.70

• Dacian Gold Cut to Underperform at Macquarie

• Elders Rated New Buy at Shaw and Partners; PT A$15

Major movers today

Enjoy your weekend,

The Market Matters team.

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