What Mattered Today; Resources help a choppy session

There was some aggressive selling early in the local futures market which saw the ASX 200 hit by  ~40-points / 0.7% early in the morning which surprised us considering the strong lead from resources overseas. It felt like overseas selling given it lasted 45-minutes before it vanished, worth watching out for in the days ahead….perhaps it’s a negative view on the $A. After the initial sell off though the mkt recovered reasonably well with the ASX finishing down -13points or -0.22% to 5937.

The banks continued to lag however there was some decent buying in BHP which put on 2.7% to $29.70, Rio Tinto, which added 2.1% to $76.78 and Woodside, which ended +2.2% higher. Alumina (AWC) – a stock we own in the Platinum Portfolio did well after the price of Alumina – Gapped up $50/tonne overnight  - Price spike from $375/t => $425/t due to outage at the world's largest alumina refinery in Brazil (operated by Norsk) - heavy rain filling up the tailings dam. Length of the outage duration is unclear…we discuss Alumina in DIRECT FROM THE DESK BELOW

ASX 200 Chart

ASX 200 Chart

DIRECT FROM THE DESK – James Gerrish discusses US Rates, Alumina & 2 Lithium stocks - CLICK HERE

Have a great night

James & the Market Matters Team

The above is an extract from the Market Matters afternoon Report. For a free 14 day trial of our service CLICK HERE

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