The Match Out: Gold & Oil stocks underpin small gains by the ASX

The ASX was higher today (+16pts), though it finished up less than SPI Futures (+58pts) had implied on Saturday morning, the atrocious attacks by Hamas within Israel over the weekend that left hundreds dead has created another level of complexity, leading to higher Oil & Gold prices across Asia today, while we all hope and pray for a quick resolution, it appears unlikely.

• The ASX 200 finished up +16pts/+0.23% at 6970.
• The Energy sector was best on ground (+3.04%) while Healthcare (+0.93%) & Materials (+0.36%) outpaced the markets gain.
• IT (-0.45%) and Staples (-0.44%) the weakest links while Property also fell (-0.30%).
• Oil and gold stocks were in focus today with Crude Oil +3.58% higher in Asian trade while Gold traded up to $US1850/oz
• Evolution (ASX: EVN) +6.29% the standout while Northern Star (ASX: NST) +3.98% and Silver Lake (ASX: SLR) +6.32% also chimed in, but the whole sector was bought. We own the 3 names mentioned and with an overweight stance to Gold in our growth portfolio.
• Woodside (ASX: WDS) +3.07%, Santos (ASX: STO) +4.22% and Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) +3.33% all higher, with WDS also enjoying an upgrade to buy equivalent from RBC.
• Magellan (ASX: MFG) -7.24% down again, although the selling was more anaemic today vs Friday’s aggressive move. Certainly still more sellers than buyers, and we remain on the fence for now, void of the confidence to add to our position but equally, we don’t want to be shaken out at current levels. Currently, we’re down ~17% in the growth portfolio on a 4% position which has hit returns by ~70bps while the Income Portfolio is down 12% and we’re nursing a 48bps MFG hangover there.
• Guzman y Gomez  in the news flagging a potential IPO – we own Chipotle Mexican (NYSE: CMG) in our International Equities Portfolio which is more than 10x the size of Guzzy but a very similar sort of business – good comparable.
• Qantas (ASX: QAN) -3.78% traded to new yearly lows closing at $4.84 today, we see no reason to be there however, this is a call about the significant future capex rather than the media headlines.
• We weighed back into Altium (ASX: ALU) last week for Growth, believing the risk/reward now stacks up for this high-quality software business.
• Iron Ore was down 2.7% in Asia following the Golden Week festivities.
• Gold edged higher trading at US$1850 at our close.
• Asian stocks were mixed, Hong Kong up 1%, Japan flat while China fell -0.81%
• US Futures are all down circa -0.70%

ASX 200 chart - intraday 

ASX 200 chart - daily 

Broker moves 

• Steadfast Raised to Overweight at Jarden Securities; PT A$6
• Amcor GDRs Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT A$14.50
• Beach Energy Cut to Sector Perform at RBC; PT A$1.70
• Viva Energy Raised to Outperform at RBC; PT A$3.40
• Woodside Energy Raised to Outperform at RBC; PT A$38
• CSR Raised to Buy at Goldman; PT A$6.45
• Bank of Queensland Cut to Sell at Citi; PT A$5

Major movers today 

Enjoy the night
The Market Matters Team

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