It’s been a battle between mining and banking stocks today on the ASX. Early wins in the mining sector perked the ASX200 up in early morning trading but the resource stocks were unable to hold the bourse up as bank and tech stocks fell.
The ASX, therefore, finished just about flat, adding 3.6 points or just 0.05% to settle at 7,518.50 points for the day.
Top-performing stocks for the day were, as stated, mining companies - Sayona Mining gained 11.25% and Iluka Resources added 8.90% to its share price.
Over the last five days, the ASX200 has gained 1.70% but is essentially unchanged over the last 52 weeks, a clear indicator of how uncertain the economic environment has been this past year.
Materials took the cake with a 1.38% gain today, with Real Estate (+0.92%) and Utilities (+0.93%) not too far behind. Info Tech was the deepest in the red with a 1.37% loss, with the remaining sectors either flat or in the red.
Only tin and West Texas crude made any gains on the commodity front today, with West Texas gaining 1/76% and tin 1.19%. The rest fell, none more so than silver with a 2.27% drop.
Wall Street sets new record highs
Capital.com senior analyst Kyle Rodda discusses Wall Street’s new record highs and Netflix’s share surge.
“Wall Steet added to its record highs overnight,” Rodda wrote.
“It’s challenging to pinpoint what’s driving the dynamic. It could be purely technical, with above that milestone level attracting buyers. It certainly sends a bullish signal.
“However, if you crudely break down the three typical drivers of stock market valuations – earnings expectations, interest rate expectations and implied volatility - it’s only a drop in implied volatility that can be said to be a tailwind for the market, while, at the margins, interest rate and earnings expectations are moving against it.
“Nevertheless, equities are higher despite the markets pricing out rate cuts and revising lower earnings expectations.”
US500:
“Netflix shares surged in post-market trade following the release of its Q4 results,” Rodda continued.
“EPS came in a fraction below expectations at $2.11 (Est. $2.19), but subscriber growth smashed it out of the park at 13.12 million net additions, and earnings guidance for Q1 beat the street at $4.49 (Est. 4.09).
“The result was the strongest since the stay-at-home boom at the start of the pandemic and shows the company’s successful execution of its new pricing and product segmentation strategy.”
Netflix:
Five at Five
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On your six
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One to watch
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