ASX200 Afternoon Wrap 4th of April 2022

The strong seasonal tailwinds that blow during the first half of April have helped the ASX200 add 20 pts (0.27%) today to 7513, as it looks to make it four straight weeks of gains. 

Concerns that Russian war crimes and possible new sanctions on Russia might lead to a Monday morning sell-off eased as crude oil futures opened below $100 p/b and U.S equity futures re-opened little change from Friday’s close.

Nonetheless, the geopolitical disaster in Europe was again the driver as investors sought to increase exposure to Materials and Energy stocks, fuelling the ASX200’s irrepressible march towards all-time highs.

The Materials sector added 1% led higher by a 3% rally in Fortescue Metals (FMG) to $21.70. Mineral Resources (MIN) added 3.43% to $56.46. BHP Group (BHP) added 0.13% to $52.46 and Rio Tinto (Rio) lifted by 0.27% to $120.66.

Utilities also made good gains as AGL(AGL) added 2.82% to $8.03, Origin Energy added 0.63% to $6.43 as did energy stocks. Woodside Petroleum (WPL) added 1.04% to $33.02. Santos (STO) added 0.25% to $7.92 while Beach Energy (BPT) added 0.32% to $1.57.

Key IT stocks have made gains as yields marked time ahead of tomorrow’s RBA meeting.

As the RBA is expected to again leave the cash rate unchanged at 0.1%, the real focus will be on any hawkish language that indicates the RBA is moving closer to hiking interest rates for the first time since 2010.

Zip Co (Z1P) added 6.46% to $1.56. Sezzle (SZL) added 5.62% to $1.41, Xero (XRO) added 2.30% to $103.36 and Seek (SEK) gained 1.07% to $29.20. Afterpay owner Block (SQ2) shed 0.15% to $180.23, Appen (APX) closed flat at $6.88, while Life 360 (360) lost 1.57% to $5.65.

The big banks ended lower. Westpac (WBC) fell 0.17% to $23.91. ANZ fell 0.22% to $27.12. Commonwealth Bank (CBA) lost 077% to $103.72, while National Australia Bank (NAB) lost 0.80% to $32.07.

Healthcare names were mostly higher on the day. Cochlear added 1.08% to $225.44. BioTech giant CSL added 0.53% to $267.79, while Ramsay Health Care (RHC) lost 0.16% to $64.35.

Lithium miners made substantial gains. Liontown Resources (LTR) surged 9% to $2.12, Allkem (AKE) lifted by 7.34% to $13.31. Pilbara added 5.54% to $3.62, while Iluka (ILU) shares popped by 6.08% to $12.22 after it received a A$1.25b Federal loan to build a rare earths refinery in WA.

In M&A news, Pendal (PDL) are currently up close to 20% at $31.99 after a A$2.4m bid from rival funds manager Perpetual (PPT).

The AUDUSD is trading higher at .7515, again eyeing the .7555 high of October 2021.

Source Tradingview. The figures stated are as of April 4th, 2022. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This report does not contain and is not to be taken as containing any financial product advice or financial product recommendation

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