Stock Market - Australia - October 18, 2024

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 55.2 points lower, down 0.67%.

Started with a bang. Went out with a whimper. That's the week that was for the Australian share market. Monday's new record high of 8285.7 might take some beating now as events in the Middle East conspire to send risk capital to the sidelines.

That is, of course, unless you're in the Energy (XEJ) sector. It rose nearly 2% today, with several stocks in the sector like Strike Energy (STX), Viva Energy Group (VEA), and Ampol (ALD) rising more than that.

The other sector that tends to do well in times of geopolitical uncertainty is gold, and fortunately, we have some of the best gold stocks on the planet listed here on the ASX.

As for everything else, not so good, and you can read all about the swings and roundabouts experienced by Aussie stocks in tonight's Evening Wrap.

Click/scroll through for the usual reporting of the major sector and stock-specific moves, the broker responses to them, as well as all of the key upcoming economic data.

Also, I have detailed technical analysis on Brent Crude Oil plus base metals Nickel, Aluminium, Tin, and Zinc in today's

The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) finished 55.2 points lower at 8,150.0, roughly mid-range, 0.52% from its session low and 0.68% from its high. In the broader-based S&P/ASX 300 (XKO), advancers lagged decliners by a convincing 107 to 175.

For the week, the XJO finished down 62.2 points or 0.76% lower, 1.67% from its intraweek high and just 0.52% from its intraweek low.

The Energy (XEJ) (+1.8%) was the best performing sector today, likely in response to the worsening situation in the Middle East, and no doubt you’ve already read about US President Biden’s discussions with Israel about potentially striking Iranian energy assets.

Also doing well today was the other classic geopolitical uncertainty beneficiary, the Gold (XGD) (+0.80%) sub-index.

Source: ASX

1. Iron-ore - https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/bhp-iron-ore-output-beats-copper-production-edges-up-on-better-grades-at-escondida/
2. Lithium - https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1058623/lithium-stocks-to-benefit-as-m-a-activity-heats-up-1058623.html
3. Copper - https://www.miningweekly.com/article/olympic-dam-copper-mine-halted-on-power-outages-severe-electrical-storms-2024-10-18
4. Nickel - https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/metals/101724-bhps-fiscal-q1-iron-ore-copper-output-rise-on-year-met-coal-nickel-production-down
5. Farmland - https://stockhead.com.au/environment-social-and-governance/the-ethical-investor-farmland-prices-keep-climbing-and-esg-investors-could-own-a-piece-of-it/
6. Wine - https://wine-intelligence.com/blogs/wine-analytics-pricing-report-data/oiv-world-wine-production-faces-historic-low-in-2024
7. Seafood - https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/australia-s-raptis-seafood-looks-for-investor/ar-AA1rIuw1?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1 A. Raptis & Sons Pty Ltd
8. Construction - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/confidence-returning-to-australian-housing-sector-says-construction-group-9ae6a1ba or https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/10/australias-construction-sector-needs-tradies-not-suits/
9. Energy - https://news.nab.com.au/news/transforming-australias-energy-grid/
10. Natural gas - https://lngprime.com/australia-and-oceania/australias-santos-says-barossa-gas-project-more-than-82-percent-complete/129481/ Santos Ltd
11. Technology - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/high-growth-tech-stocks-australia-190913967.html
12. ESG - https://itbrief.com.au/story/esg-focus-rising-among-australia-nz-procurement-leaders
13. Budget deficits - https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fbudget-squeeze-puts-labor-surpluses-in-rearview-mirror%2Fnews-story%2F83cd66d802672e58cf6da97138bc7a59&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium
14. Fastest growing - https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/Council/City-news/2024-Gold-Coast-Economic-Outlook City of Gold Coast
15. Trade - https://theconversation.com/is-australias-trade-war-with-china-now-over-the-answer-might-be-out-of-our-hands-241117
16. Business challenges - https://cfotech.com.au/story/baseline-flexibility-won-t-futureproof-tech-businesses-from-fierce-competition-for-talent

Paul is a former IBM Customer Success Manager who has deployed over 300 data and AI solutions across industries and geographies for the past 8 years. Paul is a Financial Planning, Analysis, and Reporting SME working with data including integration of macro and micro indicators as part of the integrated business planning and reporting cycle.

[email protected]

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