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A rally on the ASX came under threat in late-afternoon action today, but the Aussie share market managed to just scrape by and maintain its wins.
The local market was expected to open rather flat today following a mixed session on Wall Street, but our big banks urged shares higher.
The ASX 200 index was looking ready to close at its highest point since early March, up as much as 75 points by lunchtime. However, the index pared back some of its wins in the afternoon and closed a more modest 0.47 per cent, or 28.5 points, up at 6138.7.
It seems the major catalyst for the second consecutive rally was another day of smaller COVID-19 infections in Victoria. While today’s 332 new cases are still nothing to write home about, it’s the second day in a row where new infections trend towards the lower end of 300, suggesting the past nine days of tighter lockdown measures are beginning to pay off.
As such, investors showed some interest in stocks most exposed to a COVID recovery, and the financials sector gained 1.14 per cent. Westpac was the pick of the litter among our big four, up 2.66 per cent. NAB gained 2.41 per cent, ANZ gained 1.76 per cent, and Commonwealth Bank gained 0.97 per cent.
The recently-formed real estate sector topped the gains today, however, spurred on by shopping centre stocks. Scentre Group gained 4.79 per cent, Mirvac Group gained 2.4 per cent, and Vicinity Centres 2.63 per cent. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield jumped 4.24 per cent.
Gains on the materials sector were slim as our iron ore giants closed mixed. BHP and Rio Tinto gained 0.9 per cent and 0.85 per cent respectively, while Fortescue Metals gave up 0.59 per cent. It was a sorry day for gold stocks, however, with half of our ten biggest gold companies losing more than five per cent. Evolution lost 5.34 per cent, Silver Lake lost 6.35 per cent, and Newcrest Mining lost 2.79 per cent.
Our technology stocks kept a damper on the day following a soft overnight session on the Nasdaq. Afterpay retreated 3.25 per cent, Appen 2.72 per cent, and WiseTech 2.36 per cent.
Asian markets are a healthy shade of green this afternoon. Currently, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up a neat 2.65 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 is close behind and up 1.88 per cent. The Asia Dow is up 1.46 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.56 per cent.
The Australian dollar is stronger today, currently buying 71.72 US cents, 54.83 pence, and 12.69 South African Rand.
Today’s ups and downs
Road sign and traffic control company Traffic Technologies (ASX:TTI) had a happy day after landing a three-year deal with electricity supply business Ausgrid. Ausgrid controls around 260,000 street lights in Sydney, the Central Coast, and the Hunter District. Under today’s contract, Traffic Technologies will supply LED street lights to Ausgrid. TTI shares briefly doubled this morning before paring their gain to 36.84 per cent with shares worth 2.6 cents each.
Stem cell specialist Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) was the victim of a brutal, mostly-unexplained sell-off today. After closing at a five-year high yesterday afternoon, shares quickly tumbled in early action today things and kept getting worse. The company released a late-market announcement confirming it would soon be meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration over its remestemcel-L drug, but the news wasn’t enough to undo the damage. Shares closed 31.01 per cent lower at $3.36 each.
