The Match Out: ASX posts its best week in more than 9 months, Tech and Commodities support the rally

A weaker USD and a drop in local bond yields helped push the ASX to a 3-week high, crossing back above 7300 for the first time this financial year. Aussie 2-year bond yields fell back below 4% today for the first time in more than a month, supporting the risk-on attitude. Similar to the US market, tech was a standout today and led the sector performance for the week. 

Softness in the greenback helped commodity markets which led to strong gains in Materials and Energy, though the same move weighed on Healthcare where constituents tend to have a reasonable exposure to the US as discussed in the morning report today. The ASX200 added +3.7%/+260pts this week, the best result since November.

• The ASX 200 finished up +56pts/ +0.78% at 7303
• The IT sector (+1.68%) was the best on ground today, closely followed by Telcos (+1.66%), Materials (+1.35%) & Energy (+1.28%).
• Healthcare (-0.57%) was the weakest sector, joined by Staples (-0.09%) as the only other sector to finish lower.
• Leo Lithium (ASX: LLL) -1.25% struggled despite signing a contractor to build their mine in Mali.
• Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX: NEU) +16.75% a strong rally after extending their licence agreement with Acadia for it’s Rett disease treatment into a global deal. Sales are expected to more than double from 2Q to 3Q.
• Netwealth (ASX: NWL) -5.39% gave back all of yesterday’s gains, with two broker downgrades coming through Macquarie citing lower cash balances on FUA and slightly disappointing outflows.
• JP Morgan has been forced to back track on their negative stance across local miners, upgrading BHP Group (ASX: BHP), Sandfire (ASX: SFR) and Fortescue (ASX: FMG)
• Iron Ore was up in Asia again today, +1.9% with BHP, FMG and RIO all 1-2% higher.
• Gold was flat in Asia today, hanging around $US1960/oz. A mixed result for gold stocks today, but our preferred exposure, Evolution (ASX: EVN), added 3.01%
• Asian stocks were mixed today, Nikkei (-0.09%) the weakest and Hang Seng (+0.48%) the strongest.
• US Futures are pointing to a marginally softer end to the week, with S&P Futures -0.05% and Nasdaq -0.15%.

ASX 200 Intraday

ASX 200 Daily

Sectors This Week

Stocks This Week

Broker Moves

• Netwealth Cut to Neutral at Macquarie; PT A$14.40
• St Barbara Reinstated Outperform at Macquarie
• BHP Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT A$47
• Sandfire Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT A$5.70
• Fortescue Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT A$21
• Rio Tinto Raised to Accumulate at CLSA; PT A$123
• Netwealth Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT A$12.30

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