The Match Out: A late rally can’t save the ASX, lower again to end a soft week

Materials were once again weighing on local equities today, resigning the index to a fourth consecutive decline. An honourable fightback late in the day did see the ASX200 finish 20pts above the day’s low, and winners and losers were almost split evenly from a sector and stock point of view. The ASX200 finished down -122pts/-1.67% for the week with Energy the only sector to finish higher.

• The ASX 200 finished down -14pts/ -0.20% at 7156
• Utilities (+1.05%0 was best on ground today followed by notable gains in Healthcare (+0.62%) and Industrials (+0.40%).
• Materials (-1.00%) was the main pain point, followed by Consumer Discretionary (-0.80%).
• Audinate (ASX: AD8) -9.66% came back online following a $50m capital raise at $13/sh, with the stock closing below that level at $12.91 today.
• Monadelphous (ASX: MND) +0.73% won a $160m contract to build the Talison Lithium Greenbushes chemical plant in WA.
• Telstra (ASX: TLS) -0.25% confirmed it is in discussions to buy cloud consulting company Versent, though talks are at an early stage.
• Platinum Asset Management (ASX: PTM) -4.38% fell to all-time lows after a FUM update was released late yesterday (5.49PM as if they wanted to hide it). They saw $912m of outflows in August, though $650m relates to one institutional redemption. FUM fell to $16.7b.
• GQG Partners (ASX: GQG) -1.04% saw net inflows for the month of $1.3b, taking the total to $7.3b this year. FUM still fell in August to $US107.4b
• Energy stocks were stronger into the close after talks between Chevron and their local LNG workforce broke down, paving the way for a strike that may impact supply.
• Iron Ore was off -2.2% in Asia today with Fortescue (ASX: FMG) feeling the impact the most, down -2.37%.
• Gold continues to tick higher, up +0.3% in Asian trade to $US1,926/oz.
• Japan’s Nikkei was soft today, down -1.6%. The Hong Kong markets were closed with record rainfall keeping workers home.
• US Futures are all higher by around 0.2% each.

ASX 200 - Intraday chart

ASX 200 - Daily Chart 

Sectors this week 

Stocks this week 

Broker moves 

• IGO's Nickel Revenue to Rise With Cosmos Mine Despite Delays
• Origin's Power, Gas Earnings May Improve on Margin, Volume Gain
• Fortescue's Green Lean, Ore Prices Could Increase Business Risk
• Origin's LNG Export Profits Might Weaken as Gas Prices Retreat

Major movers today 

Have a great night
The Market Matters Team

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