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The local market closed 0.23% higher on Friday driven by a surge in materials stocks on the back of OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL) announcing it has received and intends to accept a revised takeover offer from BHP Group (ASX:BHP) for $28.25 per share, in a deal worth $9.6 billion. The consumer discretionary, real estate and energy sectors closed Friday’s session in the red.

The best performing stocks on Friday were led by OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL) following the takeover update, Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) added 3.54% and NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF) rounded out the top 3 winning stocks for the session, up 3.2% on Friday. Lovisa Holdings (ASX:LOV) led the losing end of the market on Friday, tumbling more than 7% after releasing a trading update despite the fashion jewellery company announcing  store sales for the first 19-weeks of FY23 are up 16.1% on FY22 YTD.

Pinnacle Investment Management also fell almost 4.45%, and Corporate Travel Management lost 3.75% on Friday.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients on Friday were APA Group (ASX:APA), Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) and James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX).

Overseas, Wall Street rallied to see out the last trading week despite US retail data out during the week alongside speeches by some policymakers still indicating the Fed’s hawkish approach remains the priority. Investors however may be slightly more confident that a Fed pivot will come sooner than expected and that rate cuts may be seen by around the end of next year. The Dow Jones industrials index ticked 0.6% higher at the closing bell on Friday, while the Nasdaq added just 0.01% and the S&P500 rallied 0.5%.

European markets rebounded on Friday as investors responded to lower-than-expected consumer and wholesale data released last week, in signs that boost investor confidence that the U.S. Fed’s will have to ease the aggressive rate hike path soon. The STOXX600 added 1.1%, Germany’s DAX rallied 1.16%, the French CAC jumped 1.04% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 rose just over half a percent.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of the local trading session on the ASX, the SPI futures are anticipating the market to open 0.33% higher amid signs inflation is beginning to cool.
• There is no local economic data being released today however investors will be awaiting RBA governor Philip Lowe’s speech tomorrow in hope of gauging any insight into the RBA’s rate hike movements over the coming months.
• On the commodities front this morning, crude oil is trading 1.91% lower at US$80.80 per barrel, gold is down 0.61% at US$1750 per ounce and iron ore is up 2.05% at US$99.50 per tonne.
• The Aussie dollar is starting the week slightly weaker at 66.59 US cents, 93.68 Japanese yen, 56.14 British Pence, and NZ$1.08.

Trading Ideas: 

• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Steadfast Group (ASX:SDF) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 12-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $5.19 to the range of $5.59 to $5.69 according to standard principles of technical analysis.
• Trading Central has also identified a bullish signal on Universal Biosensors (ASX:UBI) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 37-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $0.26 to the range of $0.32 to $0.34 according to standard principles of technical analysis.