End of Day – Thu 20 Jan

Marcus Today Market Updates

• The ASX rose 10 points to 7342 (0.14%) as resources rallied hard and banks and industrials flopped. Good recovery BHP vote tonight. The Big Bank Basket fell again to $177.00 (1%) with NAB down 1.3%, CBA off 0.7% and MQG also under pressure down 0.6%. MFG managed some gains but was a rare patch of green. Insurers fell with MPL down 3.2%, SUN off 1.5% and ASX falling 2.0%.
• Industrials slid slightly with bond proxies under some pressure, GMG down 0.3%, SCG off 1.3%. TLS fell 1.0%, other defensives slid with WOW down 0.9%, ALL off 0.9% and TCL falling 0.8%. In the best of times, miners leapt, BHP up 3.1% ahead of the vote tonight, FMG up 4.7% and lithium and gold miners rallied hard. NST up 11.2% on production report, PLS up 2.2%, MIN up 2.8% and IGO doing well up 4.1%. Energy stocks were also hot to trot on continued oil price rises despite Joe Biden trying valiantly to talk oil prices down. WPL up 1.5% and STO up 0.8% on production numbers. Junior gold explorers also in the buyer’s sights, CMM up 6.3%, RMS up 5.8% and DEG up 7.5%. Tech stocks under a little pressure, SQ2 made its debut today falling 0.4%, WTC down 0.1% and XRO sliding 0.3%. The All-Tech Index down 0.9%.
• In corporate news, VRT got a new bid up 7.6%, production reports a plenty. GPT saw some leadership changes down 1.5%.
• On the economic front, unemployment fell again making life a little more uncomfortable for the RBA next month. 4.2% unemployment is the equal fourth lowest since 1978. And we have emergency rate settings. That will change. In Asia, China pledged more stimulus for the economy, Japan up 1.3%, HK up 2.3% and China up 1.1%

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