The Match Out: Marginal gains heading into the weekend cant offset a tough week

Equities managed a modest gain into the weekend, bucking the weakness of US markets overnight, though largely tracking the gains seen on their futures today. Investors were still wary of loading up too much risk today, highlighted by the weakness in the Tech sector today. Staples was a key winner, that sector hit 3-year lows yesterday but a broker upgrade for Coles (ASX: COL) saw some support. Banks and Resources both posted gains today to help stem the weakness this week. The ASX200 fell -73pts/-1.07% this week.

• The ASX 200 finished up +14pts/+0.21% at 6826.
• The Consumer Staples sector was best on ground today (+1.33%), followed by Utilities (+0.91%), Energy (+0.69%) and materials (+0.64%)
• Tech (-0.80%), Industrials (-0.64%) and Telcos (-0.46%) were the weakest links
• Harvey Norman (ASX: HVN) +4.79% 1Q sales looked a miss, down -10% at the group level on a comparable basis, and profit before tax was down -49%. Shares were up today though after they announced a buyback of 10% of shares on issue, worth around $450m.
• ResMed (ASX: RMD) -4.01% 1Q numbers were broadly in line for Revenue and earnings, though margins continued to slide and were below analyst expectations. The key issue was only 2% growth in US device sales.
• Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) +1.43% produced 20.7kt of spodumene in Q1 with costs flat and maintained guidance, though grades were down.
• Pinnacle Invest. Management (ASX: PNI) -1.04% said affiliate FUM had fallen 2% in the Sept quarter to $90.4b weighed on by softer equity markets and a challenging institutional market.
• Iron Ore was up +0.3% in Asia
• Gold edged higher trading at US$1987 at our close.
• Asian stocks were strong, Nikkei and Hang Seng adding more than 1%.
• US Futures are up strongly heading into the Friday session. S&P500 Futures +0.6% and Nasdaq +0.87%.

ASX 200 Index - Intraday

ASX 200 Index

Sectors this week – Source Bloomberg

Stocks this week – Source Bloomberg

Broker Moves

• APM Human Services Rated New Buy at Jefferies; PT A$2.40
• WA1 Resources Rated New Speculative Buy at Canaccord; PT A$11.50
• Megaport Raised to Outperform at RBC; PT A$13
• Champion Iron Raised to Accumulate at CLSA; PT A$7.20
• Argosy Minerals Cut to Neutral at Macquarie
• Brambles Cut to Sell at Citi; PT A$13.15
• Gold Road Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT A$1.60
• Coles Group Raised to Add at Morgans Financial Limited
• Megaport Raised to Overweight at Barrenjoey; PT A$11.50
• Liontown Resources Raised to Speculative Buy at Bell Potter
• JB Hi-Fi Raised to Buy at CLSA; PT A$53

Major Movers Today

Enjoy the weekend

The Market Matters Team

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