BPO TV

Week-to-date the ASX200 closed 0.5% in the red, however on Friday the market rebounded, recovering from the broad sell-off earlier in the week, and closing over 1% higher.

All industry sectors posted gains. Although the tech sector declined the most overall last week, on Friday tech regained some of those losses, and was the best performing sector, managing to lift 2.25% at the close. That was following the tech rally on Wall Street and tech stocks like Zip (ASX:ZIP), Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR), Life360 (ASX:360), Codan (ASX:CDA) and EML Payments (ASX:EML) all advancing.

The top performer on Friday was PointsBet Holdings (ASX:PBH), which lifted 10.7% after reporting a 54% increase in turnover. And Goldman Sachs have retained their buy rating on PBH with a $5.78 price target, so keep watch of its share price today. Meanwhile, the worst performing stocks were Dominos (ASX:DMP), ResMed (ASX:RMD) and Pro Medicus (ASX:PME).

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients on Friday, were Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL), Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX) and the Vaneck Emerging Income Opportunities ETF (ASX:EBND).

In global markets, European stocks closed higher after a busy day of earnings results. Meanwhile, Eurozone inflation hit a record high in April, for the sixth month in a row. Annual inflation in Europe reached 7.5%, while GDP grew 5% year-on-year. So, investors are now waiting to see how the European Central Bank will react. Over in the US, there was a broad sell-off on Wall Street, with all three major benchmarks falling. This follows a number of headwinds, including the Fed’s monetary tightening, rising inflation and interest rates, the ongoing concerns around the Ukraine war, and COVID cases in China, which continue to rise – these factors have all played a part. The Dow Jones tumbled more than 900 points, closing 2.8% lower. The S&P500 dropped 3.6%, and the Nasdaq closed more than 4% lower, finishing April with its worst monthly performance since October 2008, down approximately 13% in April overall.

What to watch today:

• Following US equities, the SPI futures are suggesting the local market will fall 1.27% at the open this morning.
• In economic data, ANZ’s data on job advertisements for April will be released today. And today investors will be trading cautiously, with the expectation of an interest rate hike tomorrow when the RBA meets.
• In commodities, oil prices are trading lower, amid supply disruptions and the demand slowdown in China. So watch stocks such as Santos (ASX:STO) and Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL).
• Also today watch gold mining stocks, such as Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM), as the gold price is trading higher. Meanwhile, seaborne iron ore has fallen, trading around US$150 a tonne.
• New listings on the ASX today include Sarama Resources (ASX:SRR) and Solstice Minerals (ASX:SLS).

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintain a BUY rating on Nitro Software (ASX:NTO), and have lowered their price target from $2.75 to $2.50. NTO last closed at $1.37, implying 82.5% share price growth in a year.
• Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Firefinch (ASX:FFX), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $1.12 to the range of $1.43 to $1.51, over 18 days according to the standard principles of technical analysis.