Note: Coverage of overnight markets will now be done as “Market Morning” before the Asian markets open. Trading Day will focus on the Asian session and Australian stocks.
The ASX is closed Monday and Tuesday next week, so Trading Day will return on Wednesday.
After a shortened session due to the Christmas break, Santa came to town after delivering some presents on the overnight bourses, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index up 1.2% or 49 points to 4140. In after hours trading, the SPI futures have gained a few points after the close.
The Asian equity markets are still open and are mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.77% to 8395 points, the volatile Hang Seng up 1.1% to 18583 points and the Shanghai Composite is up over 1%, trading at 2212 points.
The AUD rose almost 0.5% today, currently trading at 1.0174 against the USD, whilst WTI crude was steady and remains just under $100 USD a barrel at $99.57.
Gold was also steady, up around $3USD an ounce through the Asian session and is now at $1614, dicing with its long term trendline, remaining undecided where it wants to go. In Australian dollars, the shiny metal fell almost $20 and is at $1583 AUD an ounce.
Movers and Shakers
Well the euphoria wasn’t brief after all, as all sectors were bid up today. The laggard was consumer stocks again, as Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs cut the ratings on Myer and David Jones this morning. The leaders were real estate (REIT), materials and industrials.The banks were all bid up, with ANZ up 1.4%, Commonwealth (CBA) up 1%, National Australia Bank (NAB) up over 1% and Westpac (WBC) up just under a percent.
Macquarie (MQG) was bid up just under 1% too, slipping back above $24 per share again whilst healthcare favourite Cochlear (COH) finally steadied with a positive close after profit taking in the last couple of days.
Meanwhile, its “twin” CSL actually finished down slightly, whilst Telstra (TLS) was up 0.6%, again on very light volume.
To the resources, BHP Billiton (BHP) jumped above $35 a share again, up 1.4% whilst its “twin” Rio Tinto (RIO) almost jumped 2% for the day. On balance both major stocks haven’t moved all week.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) is proving more and more volatile, as to be expected in the last days of trading before Xmas, and was up almost 3% even though gold in AUD fell significantly. Fortescue (FMG) was quietly up nearly 1% and to finish out the ASX8, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) was up 1.4%, but still remains at depressed levels.
Defensive stocks Wesfarmers (WES) and Woolworths (WOW) diverged again, with the former up 0.7%, the latter losing ground falling 0.4% probably in continued response to further weakness in the retail sector.
As for what lies ahead over the Christmas weekend and the last session, futures are pointing to higher opens on the US and Euro markets, up about 0.2 to 0.5% across the board.
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