BPO TV

Yesterday, the ASX200 broke its 3-day winning streak, dipping 0.06% or 4 points, as blue chips, tech and healthcare stocks weighed down on the market.

Sector wise, the market was mixed. The energy sector was strong, up nearly 2%, while the tech sector was the worst performer, which fell 1.72%. Travel stocks performed well: Flight Centre (ASX:FLT), Webjet (ASX:WEB) and Qantas (ASX:QAN) all advanced between 4-6% as the nation’s border restrictions were set to ease, allowing vaccinated travellers to enter the United States for non-essential reasons. Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) rose 2.8% yesterday after its board accepted the $23.6 billion takeover offer. The worst performers: tech shares Xero (ASX:XRO), EML Payments (ASX:EML) and Appen (ASX:APX) all came under pressure, however the worst performer was medical device company PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) which fell nearly 10% after its Managing Director Paul Brennan handed in his resignation.

In the US, all three benchmarks lifted, with the Dow advancing over 100 points. This comes after Congress passed a more than $1 trillion infrastructure bill, now awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature. The package will help provide new funding for transportation, utilities and broadband. The S&P500 pushed forward 0.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.2%.

After a positive session on Wall Street, the futures are suggesting the Aussie share market will open 0.15% higher this morning.

What to watch today:

• National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) is set to release its full year results. Morgans expects NAB to report cash earnings from continuing operations broadly in line with consensus estimates and is estimating a fully franked final dividend of 64 cents per share.
• In economic news, business confidence data for October will be released this morning.
• AGMs today: Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG), Bendigo & Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) and cloud communications software & services company MNF Group (ASX:MNF).
• The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday included Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD), the Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX:CRYP) and Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX:VUL).
• CSR (ASX:CSR) and Waterco (ASX:WAT) are set to go ex-dividend today.
• Oil prices rose on Monday, following the passing of the US infrastructure bill. The WTI crude oil price was up 1.17% to US$82.22 a barrel. The gold price came close to hitting a two-month high, while the seaborne iron ore price trades at US$94.36 a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained its BUY rating on leading mining services company, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), however have decreased its price target to $50.45 (previously $54.25). Macquarie and Citi are positive on the stock, Ord Minnett have a HOLD rating, while Morgan Stanley is underweight.
• Bullish charting signals have been identified in Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT), Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX:URW), according to Trading Central.