The ASX is being dragged down by travel stocks in today’s trading, with Flight Centre diving 6% and Qantas and Webjet falling more than 4%.
Banks (Macquarie down 2.2%) and miners have also had a negative impact.
Appen fell 16%, after Macquarie downgraded to Underperform.
Energy was the worst-performing sector.
Woodside is currently down 2.5% after WTI crude oil futures fell 1.7% to $US77.01 a barrel
BHP is down 1.7%.
It is the worst day of the month for the Bourse so far.
The S&P/ASX200 dropped 79.60 points or 1.07% to 7,327.70, despite crossing above its 20-day moving average.
This index has lost 0.93% for the last five days but sits 4.00% below its 52-week high.
The bottom-performing stocks in this index were the aforementioned Appen Group and Flight Centre.
What’s the go with oil
As we do each week, we ask Wealth Within founder and analyst Dale Gillham on his particular take on a topic. This week it is oil.
“The cost of living in Australia has risen considerably over the past two years with several waves of COVID-19 causing widespread lockdowns, supply chain issues and delays. This has seen demand outstrip supply causing costs to soar and prices to rise. One area that has been hit the hardest is energy costs with petrol and the cost of filling up your car rising to unprecedented levels.
“As we know, the price of fuel is linked to oil prices, so the question that needs to be answered is will oil prices rise or fall into Christmas and the new year. At the risk of being a two-handed economist, I don’t believe oil prices will rise but I also don’t believe they will fall very much.
“Most experts are predicting oil to be around $80 a barrel in 2022, which is where it is now. The challenge with being more precise about what will happen, is the unpredictability of COVID-19 with more lockdowns expected around the world. This could see supply outstrip demand as oil producers can’t just turn on and off the tap like we do in the garden. If this occurs prices will fall, that said if things settle and demand increases, we will see prices stay high for a while longer while oil producers ramp up supply.
“The news is not all bad, as the charts show that the price of oil should fall for a short period early to mid-2022, which could see oil back below $70 a barrel and possibly as low as $50 a barrel.
"However, there are a lot of variables and as we are in unprecedented times, anything could occur that would affect this. Due to the issues around the world at present, the energy sector has not done well in 2021 although I expect it will do much better in 2022. That said, I don’t expect the opportunities will come from oil companies.”
India to ban crypto
The Indian government is likely to ban private cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.
Instead of the major cryptocurrencies, the government has opted for an official digital currency run by its central bank.
India’s move is similar to that of China, which earlier in the year banned cryptocurrencies altogether.
India may not be as strict, with some wriggle room for currencies that promote "the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses".
On the small cap front
Marvel Gold Ltd (ASX:MVL) is up 10.14%. MVL is off to a strong start in its new iteration as a pure-play gold company with its 31% holding in newly listed graphite spin-off Evolution Energy Minerals Ltd (ASX:EV1) valued at A$25.5 million.
Caspin Resources Ltd (ASX:CPN) is up 8.23%. CPN intersected up to 40 metres of disseminated nickel and copper sulphides during reverse circulation (RC) drilling over a key anomaly within the Yarawindah Brook platinum group element (PGE)-nickel-copper property.
Hartshead Resources NL (ASX:HHR) is up 5.56% on the back of a research report from MST Access.
Aurumin Ltd (ASX:AUN) is up 4.76%. AUN has completed drilling at its 100%-owned Mt Dimer Gold Project, 120 kilometres northeast of Southern Cross in Western Australia.
Global Energy Ventures Ltd (ASX:GEV) is up 1.74% on welcoming Andrew Pickering to the role of chairperson.