Market Wraps

Evening Wrap: ASX 200 higher, Wesfarmers soars on Goldman Sachs upgrade, Energy stocks slump

Fri 24 Jan 25, 4:57pm (AEDT)

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 30pts higher (+0.36%).

In a nutshell:

  • Carl's away, so I've punched out a bite-sized Evening Wrap

  • ASX 200 ticked higher and finished the week up 1.19%

  • Wesfarmers shares soared after a Goldman Sachs upgrade

Let's dive in.

Today in Review

Fri 24 Jan 25, 4:46pm (AEDT)

Name Value % Chg
Major Indices
S&P 500 6,118.71 +0.53%
Dow Jones 44,565.07 +0.92%
NASDAQ Comp 20,053.678 +0.22%
Russell 2000 2,310.3948 +0.29%
Country Indices
Canada 25,434.08 +0.48%
China 3,230.1638 +0.51%
Germany 21,411.53 +0.74%
Hong Kong 19,700.56 -0.40%
India 76,520.38 +0.15%
Japan 39,958.87 +0.79%
United Kingdom 8,565.2 +0.23%
Commodities (USD)
Gold 2,761.8 -0.18%
Iron Ore 101.4 +0.19%
Copper 4.3265 +0.77%
WTI Oil 74.27 -1.58%
Currency
AUD/USD 0.6285 +0.19%
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (USD) 103,100.63 -0.99%
Ethereum (AUD) 5,161.978 +0.08%
Miscellaneous
US 10 Yr T-bond 4.638 +0.85%
VIX 14.93 -1.12%
Name Value % Chg

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ASX 200 Session Chart

2025-01-24 16 17 20-S&P ASX 200 (LIVE DATA) Share Prices & Charts - Market Index
ASX 200 gapped higher and finished near best levels (Source: Market Index)

Markets

  • ASX 200 finished 0.36% higher and near best levels

  • Decent breadth, with 9 out of eleven sectors higher and 63.5% of ASX 200 constituents closing in positive territory

  • Weekly recap: Emerging Companies (+0.32%), All Ords (+1.07%), ASX 200 (+1.19%)

  • Discretionary was the best performing sector after Goldman Sachs upgraded Wesfarmers (+3.2%) to a Buy and a sizeable bounce for Premier Investments (+6.5%)

  • Energy stocks continued to slide, with a heavyweight name like Woodside down 5.2% in the last six sessions, in-line with a six-day losing streak for oil prices, down 5.3 since 15-Jan as Trump seeks to boost US energy production

  • Bank of Japan hiked interest rates by 50 bps to 0.5%, in-line with market expectations

  • Next week is going to be massive – Mag-7 stocks to report Q4 earnings, last week of January will see a few ASX-listed companies pre-announce earnings, Aussie December inflation on Wednesday and Fed rate decision on Thursday morning (market pricing in 99.5% likelihood of a hold)

Economy

  • Australia's January manufacturing PMI ticked higher to 49.8 from 47.8 in the previous month, within an arms reach of expansion territory, while services remained strong at 50.4 (down from 50.8% in December). Key highlights from the report include:

    • "Growth in activity was supported by higher new business, although export orders continued to fall in January."

    • "Average input costs increased at an accelerated rate in January, leading output charges to rise at the fastest pace in six months."

    • "Panelists often mentioned higher input material, energy, financing and wage costs contributing the latest increase in input prices."

    • "Business activity growth was again limited to the service sector, though the rate at which services activity rose eased to a six-month low."

  • Japan's core inflation climbed to a 16-month high, in-line with market expectations by boosting the case for rate hikes

  • UK's consumer confidence sank to the lowest level in over a year, down to -22 in January from -17 in December

Interesting Movers

Trading higher

  • +23.9% Synlait Milk (SM1) – 1H25 guidance pointed to big earnings turnaround, EBITDA to be in the range of $58-63m vs. $19.9m a year ago

  • +15.3% Earlypay (EPY) – Hired corporate advisor to assist with seeking bids for the entire company after major shareholder COG Financial Services announced plans to sell its 21.4% stake

  • +6.5% Premier Investments (PMV) Myer shareholders approved the company's proposed demerger of Apparel brands on Thursday afternoon

  • +5.0% AMP (AMP) – Morgan Stanley flagged the company as their preferred play in the Australian wealth management sector, citing ~12x underlying FY25e PE and over 35% FY23-25e EPS growth as a compelling case

  • +3.2% Wesfarmers (WES) – Goldman Sachs upgraded the company to Neutral from Buy, citing several new growth drivers such as Bunnings market share gains, eCommerce/website growth and scaling of its lithium and healthcare businesses

  • +1.0% Clarity Pharmaceuticals (CU6) – Received US FDA Fast Track Designation for its Cu64 SAR-bisPSMA, a treatment for biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.

Trading lower

  • -15.2% Kogan (KGN) – Reported weaker-than-expected preliminary 1H25 earnings, adjusted EBIT was up 21.2% to $19.0m vs. Citi estimates of $21.4m or 11.2% miss


Broker Moves

  • AMP retained Overweight; target up to $1.90 from $1.70 (MS)

  • Ampol retained Buy; target price cut by 1% to $32.0 (GS)

  • Challenger retained Equal-weight; target cut to $6.60 from $6.80 (MS)

  • Netwealth upgraded to Neutral from Sell; target up to $30.7 from $28.9 (CITI)

  • Regis Resources retained Outperform; target up to $3.50 from $3.40 (MQG)

  • Santos retained Buy; target price up 2% to $7.90 (GS)

  • Treasury Wine retained Buy; target down to $13.0 from $15.2 (GS)

  • Wesfarmers upgraded to Buy from Neutral; target up to $78.7 from $69.5 (GS)

  • Worley retained Outperform; target cut to $17.83 from $17.92 (MQG)


Scans

Top Gainers

Code Company Last % Chg
AQN Aquirian Ltd $0.295 +63.89%
LYN Lycaon Resources Ltd $0.245 +48.49%
AQD Ausquest Ltd $0.033 +37.50%
CTQ Careteq Ltd $0.015 +36.36%
CLU Cluey Ltd $0.05 +31.58%
View all top gainers

Top Fallers

Code Company Last % Chg
BUR Burley Minerals Ltd $0.059 -28.92%
MRZ Mont Royal Resour... $0.03 -21.05%
PSL Paterson Resource... $0.012 -20.00%
FNR Far Northern Reso... $0.125 -19.36%
EUR European Lithium Ltd $0.057 -17.39%
View all top fallers

52 Week Highs

Code Company Last % Chg
AQN Aquirian Ltd $0.295 +63.89%
AQD Ausquest Ltd $0.033 +37.50%
VTX Vertex Minerals Ltd $0.325 +18.18%
AQI Alicanto Minerals... $0.043 +16.22%
3DP Pointerra Ltd $0.094 +14.63%
View all 52 week highs

52 Week Lows

Code Company Last % Chg
MRZ Mont Royal Resour... $0.03 -21.05%
SIO Simonds Group Ltd $0.14 -15.15%
AKG Academies Austral... $0.09 -14.29%
BIT Biotron Ltd $0.015 -11.77%
EXP Experience Co Ltd $0.115 -11.54%
View all 52 week lows

Near Highs

Code Company Last % Chg
PCI Perpetual Credit ... $1.175 +0.86%
WVOL Ishares MSCI Worl... $42.46 -0.45%
AII Almonty Industrie... $1.07 +0.94%
IAGPF Insurance Austral... $104.39 -0.10%
GCI Gryphon Capital I... $2.06 0.00%
View all near highs

Relative Strength Index (RSI) Oversold

Code Company Last % Chg
NWH NRW Holdings Ltd $3.39 -1.17%
AVH Avita Medical Inc $2.73 -1.09%
RFG Retail Food Group... $2.15 0.00%
VEE Veem Ltd $0.94 -3.09%
CLNE Vaneck Global Cle... $5.20 -4.24%
View all RSI oversold

Written By

Kerry Sun

Content Strategist

Kerry holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University. He is an avid swing trader, focused on technical set ups and breakouts. Outside of writing and trading, Kerry is a big UFC fan, loves poker and training Muay Thai. Connect via LinkedIn or email.

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