article 3 months old

Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

Australia | Oct 01 2014

By Henry Jennings, Private Client Advisor, BBY Ltd

As 10cc once sang ,”Life is a rollercoaster that we all ride” and today certainly was a huge roller coaster with a near 100 point range .From the depths of despair to the heights of glory we swooned then soared. It is always nice to be able to rationalise these things. Why the massive change in sentiment? Not completely sure except that we had been very oversold especially in the financials which were the stand out stars today. Retails sales numbers and Chinese PMI also helped but the dollar falling through 87 was a drag. In the end though it was just cheap. Yields on the banks were starting to look attractive. House price rises seem to be cooling nationally and the rhetoric on capital requirements and the need to rein in home prices subsided. The market bounced in tentative steps but once the bulls sensed a bit of shorters blood it was game on. In the final countdown we had a low of 5244 a high of 5337 and closed at 5334 up 41 points.

The big winners today were the banks as rally losses gave way to bargain hunters ensuring the sector put on between 1-1.5% .Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (A$31.43, +1.6%) was the stand out but property trusts put in a great effort with Scentre Group,Goodman Group (A$5.32, +2.9%) and Dexus Property Group (A$1.135, +2.3%) especially fine. Consumer discretionary stocks also did well with gamblers Crown Resorts Limited (A$13.98, +1.3%).TABCORP Holdings Limited (A$3.64, +0.8%) and Echo Entertainment Group Limited (A$3.30, +0.6%) in the frame. Telstra Corporation Limited (A$5.38, +1.5%) another star together with Woolworths Limited (A$34.73, +1.4%). In fact all the usual suspects including Aurizon Holdings Limited (A$4.70, +3.8%).

Resources were mixed with pluses in BHP Billiton Limited (A$33.99, +0.4%) and Alumina Limited (A$1.735, +2.4%) but Rio Tinto Limited (A$59.26, -0.5%) and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.46, -0.6%) continued to slide. Energy stocks mixed despite the falls in oil. Woodside Petroleum Limited (A$40.78, +0.4%) up a bit. Santos Limited (A$13.63, -0.3%) down a bit.

Big winners today included Mermaid Marine Australia Limited (A$2.10, +8.8%), iSentia, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited (A$27.17, +3.6%), Ozforex, Monadelphous, iProperty Group Limited (A$2.91, +5.1%) and TPG Telecom Limited (A$6.98, +2.0%) in the bigs ,#PSY#, #TZN# and Mortgage Choice Limited (A$2.68, +5.9%) in the smalls. Losers included Mount Gibson Iron Limited (A$0.50, -8.3%), Syrah Resources Limited (A$4.14, -5.7%), Newcrest Mining Limited (A$10.05, -4.7%), Panaust Limited (A$1.875, -3.8%), Energy World Corporation Ltd (A$0.36, +1.4%) and Slater & Gordon Limited (A$5.94, -3.3%) plus Range Resources Limited (A$0.02, -23.1%) and #PBD# in the mid-caps. Volume was hardly brilliant considering the range today at around $3.8bn but better than recent days. Aussie dollar at 3 year lows around 86.8,Gold at $1206 and Bitcons at $450.

Asian shares were weaker with Tokyo down 0.38% and Hong Kong and China closed for a couple of days.

Stocks and Stories

Panaust Limited (A$1.875, -3.8%) had a security incident in Thailand. One employee injured.

Lynas Corporation Limited (A$0.079, -1.3%) went ex rights. Ex everything really. Ex-pired?

China’s official PMI, the bellwether of large industrial firms, remained flat at 51.1 in September.

Retail sales have disappointed. Instead of the expected 0.4 per cent rise in August the sector posted a 0.1 per cent gain, down from a 0.4 per cent rise in July.

Big fat finger today in Tokyo as Stock orders amounting to more than the size of Sweden’s economy were cancelled At 9.25am orders for shares in 42 companies totalling 67.78 trillion yen ($710 billion) were cancelled, according to data from the Japan Securities Dealers Association.

Tomorrow’s News Today

We enter the last month of Fed largesse with QEIII finishing this month. Six years and now it’s gone. Puff! Let’s hope no one notices. For students of history it's similar to the Aussie withdrawal at Gallipoli. A huge façade of being there, then puff gone before anyone noticed.

Yo’ waddup, Snoop Dogg has just put in money to US biz Reddit in a round of $50m raised, valuing the company at around $500m. Word.

Rate rises sooner in the UK as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy expanded 0.9% over April to June as both the dominant services sector and construction enjoyed strong growth.

Big trouble in little China. Or Hong Kong as the protesters take to the streets again. Holiday time too so bound to be a turning point.

Yen hits six year low against the rampant US dollar as the Tankan survey shows a further softening in business conditions.

Windows 10 on its way. Not sure what happened to number 9?

A UK pension fund client has stripped PIMCO of its top rating.

Ebay to split off Paypal in 2015 and Argentina defoes the US over its debt as a US judge rules for the hedge funds.

Sales of gold coins in the US more than doubled in September as bullion’s spot price slid more than 6 per cent.

That is all.

Henry Jennings
Private Client Advisor
BBY Limited
Participant of the Australian Securities Exchange
Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority

Level 17, 60 Margaret St
 Sydney  NSW  2000
 D +61 2 9226 0067
 M +61 414 345 137
 E hcj@bby.com.au
 W www.bby.com.au

Reprinted with permission of the publisher. Content included in this article is not by association the view of FNArena (see our disclaimer).

Who is BBY?
Australia and New Zealand’s largest non-bank owned stockbroker
Ranked Top 10 Dealing Desk at the 2013 Stockbrokers Awards
Australia’s largest range of financial trading products

Visit us for more information bby.com.au | fb.com/BBYLtd | twitter.com/BBYLtd

Disclaimer: If you  are not an intended recipient of this communication, please notify the sender. You should not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute this communication or any attachment without the authority of BBY Limited (ABN 80 006 707 777/AFSL 238095/FSA Reg No. 146367). Click here for important additional terms relating to this communication, or alternatively click on the Disclaimer link on our website.

Find out why FNArena subscribers like the service so much: "Your Feedback (Thank You)" – Warning this story contains unashamedly positive feedback on the service provided.

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

Click to view our Glossary of Financial Terms