The Match Out: Buyers step into early weakness, ASX eeks out a small gain for the week

Local shares tracked US markets lower today as we head into the weekend, though there clearly remains some bullish interest with plenty of support for equities throughout the afternoon. Higher bond yields continued to weigh on the Tech sector which was also dragged down by softness being seen in US reporting on Thursday night. 

Index heavyweight Financials gave back some of the recent outperformance with banks consolidating recent gains and despite the weakness today Financials was still the best performing sector this week. All was not lost though, the ASX 200 managed to battle back 25pts from its lows, finishing the week with a small 10pt/+0.15% gain after hitting 3 month highs yesterday.

• The ASX 200 finished down -11pts/ -0.15% at 7313
• Energy (+1.27%) was the best on ground today, closely followed by Staples (+1.16%).
• Tech (-2.73%) was the weakest sector by far, given Telcos was the 2^nd worst sector today, only dropping -0.48%
• Coronado (ASX: CRN) +2.8% rallied on an improved operational update. They produced 7.2Mt in the quarter with Curragh having its best quarter since 2020. Closing net cash of $192m.
• Service Stream (ASX: SSM) +7.32% won two contracts, both worth $170m with AGL & the NBN. Shares rallied to 10-month highs.
• Newcrest (ASX: NCM) -5.28% struggled following a weak update from suitor Newmont (NEM US) where higher costs and lower production caused selling. The mostly scrip bid is now worth $27.35/sh.
• Iron Ore was down -1.5% in Asia today though Fortescue (ASX: FMG) only fell -0.22% when BHP and RIO finished higher.
• Gold was flat in Asia today, hanging around $US1,971/oz. Gold stocks were broadly weaker though, particularly on the back of Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM) update.
• Asian stocks were mixed today, Nikkei (-0.56%) struggled while Hang Seng (+0.36%) edged higher.
• US Futures are pointing to a marginally positive start, up ~0.1% across the board.

ASX 200 Intraday

ASX 200 Daily

Sectors this week

Stocks this week

Broker Moves

• Flight Centre Raised to Buy at Ord Minnett; PT A$26.75
• Scentre Group Cut to Underperform at Macquarie; PT A$2.48
• HMC Capital Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$4.99
• Charter Hall Retail Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$3.71
• Centuria Capital Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$1.60
• Charter Hall Long WALE Cut to Underperform at Macquarie
• Centuria Industrial Raised to Outperform at Macquarie; PT A$3.32
• Zip Co. Raised to Buy at CLSA; PT 57 Australian cents
• Monadelphous Raised to Buy at Citi; PT A$14.45
• Premier Investments Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$21
• Aurizon Raised to Neutral at Evans & Partners Pty Ltd; PT A$3.61
• SiteMinder Ltd Rated New Hold at Morgans Financial Limited
• Zip Co. Raised to Hold at Jefferies; PT 49c

Major Movers Today

Make informed investment decisions

At Market Matters, we write a straight-talking, concise, twice-daily note about our experiences, the stocks we like, the stocks we don’t, the themes that you should be across and the risks as we see them. Click here for your free trial.

The Match Out will be available each day after the market close. Follow my profile to be notified when the latest report is live.