The local market kicked the week off on a strong note, with the ASX 200 up by 1.15 per cent or 77.8 points to 6863.5. Ten sectors (of 11) and 77.5 per cent of stocks in the ASX 200 gained ground. The Big 4 banks all rallied, on average by 1.2 per cent, and helped the broader Financials secure its second straight gain. The Industrials and Property sectors both finished higher for the sixth straight session, adding another 1.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent today,
respectively. Gold miners were weighed by a 1.2 per cent fall in the gold price on Friday. Gold Road Resources (GOR), Newcrest Mining (NCM) and Northern Star Resources (NST) were amongst some of the worst performers today.
Over the month, the Aussie market rose 6 per cent, its best performance since March. The Financials sector posted its strongest monthly rally this year, climbing 12.2 per cent, after the Big 4 banks averaged a 14.2 per cent gain. Miners edged 0.1 per cent lower over the month, whilst Property stocks added 9.3 per cent. Lithium-orientated companies Novonix (NVX), Liontown Resources (LTR) and Core Lithium (CXO) were amongst this month’s best performers – helped partly by the Biden Administration’s US$2.8 billion grant toward battery manufacturers. St Barbara (SBM) was the worst performer, shedding 31 per cent after posting a worse-than-expected quarterly report.
Coronado Global Resources (CRN) was up by as much as 9 per cent in early trade after releasing a quarterly update, but erased all of its losses to finish on a flat note. In comparison to the prior quarter, the coal miner lifted its production by 17 per cent, but cut its FY22 saleable production guidance by 8 per cent, and hiked its average mining cost guidance by 2.5 per cent. It said that inflationary pressures and wet weather was to blame for its elevated average mining costs.
EML Payments (EML) fell 35.7 per cent after it agreed with regulators to temporarily cease onboarding new customers.
Lake Resources (LKE) and Liontown Resources (LTR) both released their quarterly updates today. LKE ended the quarter with a cash balance of $159 million (no debt), whereas LTR wrapped up with $420 million in cash. Both companies recorded quarterly operating cash outflows. LKE and LTR shares rose by 7.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.
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Tomorrow at 2:30pm AEDT, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is set to hand down its interest rate decision. Despite the release of hotter-than-expected inflation data earlier this month, 90 per cent of respondents in a Reuters poll expect the RBA to hike its benchmark cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.85 per cent.
The US earnings season continues tonight with Berkshire Hathaway and Atlassian among some of the companies expected to release earnings updates.
Today, 3.6bn shares were traded, worth $8.2bn. 747 stocks rose, 617 fell & 419 finished unchanged.
Originally published by Divik Nigam – (Author), CommSec
