The Match Out: ASX nudges into positive territory for the quarter

End of month and end of quarter today and it’s been a challenging one to say the least, with a raft of macro-economic landmines to navigate through. However, when the bell rang this afternoon, the ASX 200 had finished up +0.74% having traded in a big ~10% quarterly trading range. The Energy sector put on +25% in the March quarter, the IT stocks fell by -14% showing the two extremes, however there was a lot happening in between these outliers.

Today the market closed a tad lower, it was strong early before a sell-off took hold post lunchtime ahead of a big MOC order that saw the ASX fall -20 points in the match out – the intra-day chart below highlights this well.

• The ASX 200 finished down -14pts/ -0.20% at 7499
• The Materials sector was best on ground (+1.46%) while Communications (+0.73%) & Industrials (+0.17%) were also strong.
• IT was down (-2.18%) and Consumer Discretionary (-1.30%) were the weakest links.
• For March, the ASX 200 rallied +5.68%, the strongest March since 2009 and the best monthly gains since November 2020,
• It’s not often that the Utilities sector rallies 9.04% in a month, particularly against a backdrop where interest rates have risen so sharply.
• Energy +8.58% & Materials were also strong while Healthcare's +1.20% move was the weakest link.
• For the quarter, the Australian 3 year bond yield has moved from 0.80% to 2.33% - you don’t see that every day!
• Iron Ore was ~2.5% higher in Asia today supporting Fortescue (FMG) +4.34%
• Gold was down ~US$9 to ~US$1923
• Asian stocks were lower, Hong Kong down -1.29%, Japan -0.54% while China was off -0.59%
• US Futures are marginally higher.

ASX 200 

ASX 200 quarterly review

A very choppy quarter for stocks with the ASX trading in a ~10% range ending marginally higher. Selling at the wrong time over the past 3 months would have been very costly.

Australian 3 year bond yields

Australian 3 year bond yields started the period around 0.80% and finished it at ~2.33%. That is simply a huge move in bonds

Broker Moves

• Lunnon Metals Rated New Speculative Buy at Foster Stockbroking
• Hotel Property Rated New Hold at Barclay Pearce Capital
• Aussie Broadband Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT A$5.60

Major Movers Today

Have a great night

The Market Matters Team

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