Evening Wrap: ASX 200 recoups early losses as major banks push higher, tech stocks pull back

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 9 points higher, up 0.12%.

The Australian stock market overcame early losses to post a slight gain. Major banks pulled the index higher while tech stocks gave back some of their recent gains due to weakness in US tech stocks.

Let's dive in!

ASX 200 Session Chart

ASX 200 recovered from a weak start to finish higher and near best levels (Source: Market Index)

Markets

Today's Evening Wrap is an overview only due to Kerry and Carl being assigned to other projects this afternoon.

• ASX 200 finished higher, up from session lows of -0.38%

• ASX 200 slightly eased following the weaker-than-expected 4Q23 GDP data but started to trend higher from 1:00 pm AEDT onwards

• Intraday turnaround was driven by a notable turnaround in heavyweight banks – The big four banks opened around breakeven and finished around 1.0% higher

• Technology stocks led to the downside following a weak lead from the Nasdaq

• Major tech losers include Dicker Data (-10.0%), Iress (-6.0%), Life360 (-5.0%), Wisetech Global (-2.6%) and Technology One (-2.4%)

Economy

Today

• AU GDP December Quarter +0.2% (vs forecast +0.2% & September +0.3% upgraded from initial +0.2% estimate)

Later this week

• Thursday

  • 02:00 US Speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell

  • 02:00 US JOLTS Job Openings January (forecast 8.8M vs 9.03M December)

• Friday

  • 00:15 ECB Meeting & Monetary Policy Statement (forecast no change at 4.5%)

  • 02:00 US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell semiannual monetary policy testimony to a House committee

• Saturday

  • 00:30 US Non-Farm Employment Change February (forecast +198K vs 353K January), Unemployment Rate (forecast 3.7% vs 3.7% January), & Average Hourly Earnings (forecast +0.2% vs +0.6% January)

  • 12:30 CHN Consumer Price Index (CPI) February (forecast +0.3% vs -0.8% January)

  • 12:30 CHN Producer Price Index (PPI) February (forecast -2.5% vs -2.5% January)

Latest News

Interesting Movers

Trading higher

• +7.85% Magellan Financial Group (MFG) - Funds Under Management - February 2024

• +5.39% Talga Group (TLG) - Becoming a substantial holder, bounced off short term uptrend ribbon

• +4.46% Zip Co (ZIP) - Becoming a substantial holder, rise is consistent with prevailing short and long term uptrends

• +4.44% Anteris Technologies (AVR) - No news, continued positive response to last week's Preliminary Final Report

• +2.36% Select Harvests (SHV) - No news, continued positive response to last week's H1 FY24 Results, rise is consistent with prevailing short and long term uptrends

Trading lower

• -14.38% Cettire (CTT) - Response to Media Article & Response to ASX Price Query

• -9.71% Arcadium Lithium (LTM) - Media reports company is about to close Mt Cattlin Lithium Mine, fall is in response to 12% drop in NYSE listing, fall is consistent with prevailing short and long term downtrends

• -10.04% Dicker Data (DDR) - Partial Share Sale - David Dicker

• -7.62% Omni Bridgeway (OBL) - No news, fall is consistent with prevailing short and long term downtrends

• -6.00% Iress (IRE) - Response to ASX Price Query (not aware of competing takeover bid)

Broker Notes

• Audinate Group (AD8) retained at at Macquarie; Price Target: $17.90

• Aeris Resources (AIS) retained at buy at Bell Potter; Price Target: $0.23

• Altium (ALU) downgraded at at Macquarie; Price Target: $68.50

• ASX (ASX) retained at underweight at Morgan Stanley; Price Target: $53.50

• BHP Group (BHP)

  • Retained at outperform at Macquarie; Price Target: $48.00

  • Retained at neutral at UBS; Price Target: $45.00 from $44.00

• Boral (BLD) retained at neutral at Jarden; Price Target: $5.80

• Credit Corp Group (CCP) retained at neutral at Macquarie; Price Target: $18.32 from $16.89

• Champion Iron (CIA) retained at outperform at Macquarie; Price Target: $9.20

• Delta Lithium (DLI) initiated at neutral at Barrenjoey; Price Target: $0.30

• Deterra Royalties (DRR) retained at neutral at Macquarie; Price Target: $4.80

• Elders (ELD) retained at buy at Shaw and Partners; Price Target: $10.00 from $9.00

• Evolution Mining (EVN) retained at buy at UBS; Price Target: $3.65 from $3.50

• Fortescue (FMG) retained at underperform at Macquarie; Price Target: $18.50

• Graincorp Class A (GNC) retained at buy at Bell Potter; Price Target: $9.30

• Healius (HLS) retained at sell at Citi; Price Target: $1.10

• Magellan Financial Group (MFG) retained at underweight at Morgan Stanley; Price Target: $7.85

• Mount Gibson Iron (MGX) retained at outperform at Macquarie; Price Target: $0.55

• Mineral Resources (MIN)

  • Retained at outperform at Macquarie; Price Target: $75.00

  • Retained at sell at UBS; Price Target: $60.00 from $51.00

• Megaport (MP1) retained at at Macquarie; Price Target: $15.90

• Medibank Private (MPL)

  • Retained at hold at Citi; Price Target: $3.80

  • Retained at neutral at Goldman Sachs; Price Target: $3.70

  • Retained at neutral at Macquarie; Price Target: $3.60

• Macquarie Group (MQG) retained at overweight at Morgan Stanley; Price Target: $202.00

• NIB Holdings (NHF)

  • Retained at buy at Citi; Price Target: $8.60

  • Retained at buy at Goldman Sachs; Price Target: $8.10

  • Retained at neutral at Macquarie; Price Target: $7.30

• Nextdc (NXT) retained at at Macquarie; Price Target: $20.00

• Orica (ORI) retained at buy at Jarden; Price Target: $17.75

• Perpetual (PPT) retained at overweight at Morgan Stanley; Price Target: $27.70

• Platinum Asset Management (PTM)

  • Upgraded to hold from sell at Bell Potter; Price Target: $1.13 from $0.84

  • Retained at underweight at Morgan Stanley; Price Target: $1.30

• QBE Insurance Group (QBE) retained at overweight at Morgan Stanley; Price Target: $19.80

• Rio Tinto (RIO)

  • Retained at neutral at Macquarie; Price Target: $120.00

  • Retained at neutral at UBS; Price Target: $127.00 from $125.00

• South32 (S32) retained at buy at UBS; Price Target: $4.00 from $3.95

• Sandfire Resources (SFR) retained at buy at UBS; Price Target: $8.85 from $7.60

• Sigma Healthcare (SIG) initiated overweight at Barrenjoey; Price Target: $1.30

• Technology One (TNE) retained at at Macquarie; Price Target: $16.80

• Wildcat Resources (WC8) initiated at overweight at Barrenjoey; Price Target: $0.80

• Wisetech Global (WTC) retained at at Macquarie; Price Target: $81.90

• Xero (XRO)

  • Retained at buy at Citi; Price Target: $159.00 from $129.40

  • Downgraded to neutral from overweight at Craigs Investment Partners; Price Target: $124.73

Scans