Market wraps 8th November 2022
Closing Bell - Grady Wulff
The ASX extended its green run into Tuesday, closing the session up 0.36% buoyed by a surge in utilities and consumer staples stocks, however strong gains were offset by a sharp sell-off in the energy sector amid declining commodity prices with crude oil down 0.5% at US$91.31 per barrel, natural gas down 3.35%, gold down 0.24% at US$1670.66 per ounce and iron ore down 0.56% at US$88.50 per tonne.
Ingham’s (ASX:ING) shares fell more than 2% today after the poultry provider released its AGM presentation which outlined the challenging business conditions the company continues to face, including feed prices remaining elevated due to ‘tight global supply”. The Lottery Corporation (ASX:TLC) rallied today after the company reported overall group revenues rose 11% over the first four months of FY23. Magellan Financial Group (ASX:MFG) closed flat today after the company’s co-founder, Hamish Douglass, sold two-thirds of his shares in the company on Monday night. The share sale comes just days after MFG announced its funds under management increased to $51 billion in October.
COP27 kicked off today, where global leaders meet in Glasgow this year for the 2-week long global climate summit which on the summit’s opening day has already had the UN warn leaders that the world is speeding down a ‘highway to hell’.
The winning stocks for today’s session were Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and The a2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M). And the losing stocks today were led by James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX) tanking more than 13.7% after the global building materials company announced first half results including the scrapping of the company’s dividend in favour of a share buyback program. Sims (ASX:SGM) lost almost 10% today and New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC) fell 7.75%.
The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients today were Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1).
In economic data out today, Westpac Consumer Confidence dropped to 78 for November from 83.7 in October as rising interest rates and surging inflation weigh on family finances and the economy. NAB’s Business Confidence data for October fell from 5 points in September to 0 in October, amid growing concerns over rising interest rates and an uncertain global outlook.
The Australian dollar has strengthened to buy 64.74 US cents, 56.25 British Pence, 94.83 Japanese Yen, and 1 New Zealand Dollar and 9 cents.