Stock Market Analysis W/E March 22, 2024 - Australia

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 11.4 points lower, down -0.15%.

Aussie stocks closed the week out with a whimper. Beneath the surface of a modest 11 point loss, it's worth noting that losing stocks outnumbered winners by around 2 to 1. Either it could have been worse, or lucky it wasn't!

Energy and resources stocks relinquished some of their respective hard-fought gains from earlier in the week, but property and healthcare stocks logged solid gains.

The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO ) finished 11.4 points lower at 7,770.6, 0.41% from its session low and 0.21% from its high. In the broader-based S&P/ASX 300 (XKO ), advancers lagged decliners by a disturbing 98 to 183. For the week, the XJO finished up 110.3 points or 1.29% higher.

The Real Estate Investment Trusts (XPJ ) (+1.5%) sector was the best performing sector today, likely in response to a strong gain in sector leader Goodman Group (GMG) (+3.4%). GMG also notched it's highest close in 15-years and is a feature stock in today's ChartWatch.

Also doing well today was the Health Care (XHJ ) (+1.3%) sector, it tends to do well when investors seek to play defence. CSL (+1.7%), Cochlear (COH) (+0.9%), Resmed (RMD) (+1.2%) and Ramsay Healthcare (RHC) (+1.0%) each gained.

Doing it tough today was the Energy (XEJ ) (-1.3%) and Resources (XJR ) (-1.1%) sectors. Within Resources, stocks within the Gold (XGD ) (-1.3%) sub-index featured among the biggest losers (the zebra pattern continues! ??)

The reason for falls in energy stocks was likely the second day of modest falls in crude oil and natural gas prices. Falls in resources were harder to explain given each of the key base metals closed nicely higher in Thursday trade on the London Metals Exchange.

South32 (S32) fell 2.3%, as did IGO (-1.8%), Nickel Industries (NIC) (-1.3%), and Sandfire Resources (SFR) (-0.7%).

No doubt a dip in the iron ore price penalised Fortescue (FMG) (-2.4%), BHP Group (BHP) (-0.8%) and Rio Tinto (RIO) (-0.5%).

Source - https://www.marketindex.com.au/news/evening-wrap-asx-200-dips-on-weaker-energy-and-resources-stocks-goodman

1. LNG continues to play key role with Australia - https://www.upstreamonline.com/exclusive/confidence-waning-in-australias-next-major-lng-project-investment/2-1-1614354 Woodside Energy
2. Iron-Ore - https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-decarbonisation-present-australias-iron-ore-miners-with-costly-choices-2024-03-20/
3. AG - https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/australian-export-more-live-cattle-031141665.html
4. Fishing - https://thefarmermagazine.com.au/an-outlook-on-fisheries-and-aquaculture-in-2024/
5. Housing - https://www.9news.com.au/national/housing-affordability-analysis-parliamentary-library-greens/a9a368c8-f8f6-4a2f-aace-69675ca1bee6
6. Lithium - https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australias-minres-develop-lithium-processing-hub-goldfields-region-2024-03-17/ Mineral Resources Limited
7. GDP - https://www.ceda.com.au/NewsAndResources/News/Economy/Cassandra-Winzar-on-the-recent-GDP-figures
8. Clean - https://www.pipeline-journal.net/news/australias-booming-green-hydrogen-project-pipeline-one-largest-worldwide
9. ESG - https://www.miningweekly.com/article/esg-and-commodity-price-uncertainty-top-risks-for-asx-miners-2024-03-20 or https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/insights/esg-sustainability/comparing-australia-s-sustainability-reporting-standards BDO in Australia
10. Tech - https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366574452/Australias-cyber-security-spending-to-grow-115-this-year

Paul Young CPA CGA is a former Senior IBM Customer Success Manager that has deployed over 300 data and AI solutions across geographies for the past 8 years. Paul is also FPA SME on how best to integrate macro and micro indicators as part of the data journey for the operational, management, and regulatory reporting cycles.

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