The Match Out: More green on the screen to round out a strong week

The strong momentum continued today, though this time led by the resources sectors as commodity prices found their feet. Shares finished ~0.3% off their highs with some profit taking through the afternoon but today’s rally makes it the 6^th consecutive positive day for the ASX200 which is now up ~10% since the late November low of 6751. This week alone the index was up +247pts/+3.44%, higher for the third consecutive week

• The ASX 200 finished up +64pts/+0.88% at 7442.
• The Materials sector (+1.94%) was best on ground, followed by Energy (+1.86%)
• The worst sector was Real Estate (-0.46%) followed by Utilities (-0.28%) and Tech (-0.08%)
• Link Administration Holdings (ASX: LNK) +7.94% announced an MOU with Australia’s largest Superfund, AusSuper with $300b in assets and 3.3m members. The deal will extend their agreement to 2028, a win for Link where concerns were raised after Hesta pulled their agreement earlier this year.
• Adbri (ASX: ABC) +8.61% expects their Kwinana cement plant to come online in 2Q 2024 in line with earlier forecasts. Strong demand for building products in the 2H helped the company lift EBITDA guidance to $310-320m, up from at least $300m and 5% above consensus.
• Dexus (ASX: DXS) -3.02% cut their office portfolio valuations by 6% and industrial by 2.1% ahead of the end of the year. The landlord will pay a 26.7c dividend for the half.
• Iluka (ASX: ILU) -3.38% said their new rare earths refinery may cost up to 20% more than market expectations with the project facing a number of challenges.
• AMP (ASX: AMP) -1.57% continues to withhold $350m of capital which was earmarked for shareholders as the wealth management company works with regulators.
• Iron Ore was marginally higher in Asia, adding +0.3%, Fortescue (FMG) once again hitting all-time highs.
• Gold was flat in Asia, taking a breather from the recent rally to trade at $US2035/oz
• Asian stocks were strong – Nikkei +0.86%, Hang Seng +3.00% & China +0.32%.
• US Futures are all up around +0.15%
• We’re coming off the back of a strong period in markets, with our portfolios by in large doing well during the year:
• Active Growth Portfolio: +20.87%
• Active Income Portfolio: +8.79%
• Emerging Companies Portfolio: +7.71%
• International Equities Portfolio: +26.85%
  Performance from 1 Jan 23 to 22^nd Dec 23

ASX 200 Intraday

ASX 200 Daily

Sectors This Week

Stocks This Week

Broker Moves

• Allkem Raised to Overweight at Jarden Securities; PT A$11.40
• Pro Medicus Rated New Overweight at JPMorgan; PT A$100
• Mach7 Technologies Rated New Overweight at JPMorgan; PT A$1.05
• Alumina Raised to Overweight at Barrenjoey; PT A$1.10
• Orora Raised to Positive at Evans & Partners Pty Ltd; PT A$3
• Volpara Health Cut to Hold at Bell Potter; PT A$1.15

Major Movers Today

A note to readers

Thanks for following The Match Out. This will be the final afternoon report on Livewire (however it will continue to be published on Market Matters as a free daily report). I appreciate your support over the past few years and look forward to sharing my insights in 2024.