ASX standouts: Wednesday’s big movers and gainers

The ASX opened 0.3% higher in a short-lived rally led by banks and energy sectors. Within the first hour of trade, the market has slipped into negative territory, weighed by technology stocks.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones hit a fresh all-time high overnight. Financial and value-oriented stocks led the charge as investors shifted away from high growth technology stocks. 

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield hit a 1-month high of 1.66%, driving gains across major banks including JP Morgan and Bank of America. Higher interest rates typically translates to higher net interest margins for banks. 

Energy stocks gathered momentum after OPEC+ decided to raise its output target by 400,00 barrels per day, commencing February. The supply hike held the view that the impacts from omicron will be short-lived. 

ASX winners 

Local energy stocks responded positively to OPEC news, with Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL) up 0.5% and Santos (ASX: STO) trading 0.9% higher.  

Big banks aren’t running as hard as their US peers, but all four big banks are up less than 1% and Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) is powering ahead, up 2.3%.

Towards the more speculative end of town, Brainchip (ASX: BRN) surged 14.6% to an all-time high of 90.5 cents. The company has not released any market sensitive news since 25 November 2021. 

ASX losers 

The Nasdaq led the way for sharp losses across local technology stocks. 

Xero (ASX: XRO) is down 2-4.3%, WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) opened -1.9% lower and Zip (ASX: Z1P) slumped -3.2%.

Afterpay (ASX: APT) continues to be the main drag for the tech sector, down -4.2% to a fresh 16-month low. This follows a similar -4.7% decline for Block (formerly Square) last night.