The local market has jumped on Friday in the wake of a defiant night of Wall Street trade as geopolitics, bonds, inflation, corporate earnings and mixed macro data failed to deter traders.

Our markets have responded happily, up for a fourth straight morning.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index is ahead by 89 points, or +1.30%, to above 6,988 on Friday.  

The All Tech (XTX) index is also up +2%.

Via MarketIndex

The strong lead on Wall Street comes amid a growing enthusiasm that we’re back where we were about 100 times this year – believing US rates have peaked – apparently reinforced by the joyous visual of watching the benchmark US 10-year Treasury yield slinking back from near 5% highs to a near 1-month low of circa 4.65%.

 

LUNCHTIME ON THE ASX200

Local tech stocks have stolen the march on the ASX for a 2nd day.

Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) is up +23%, after an upbeat earnings drop sweetened by upbeat guidance.

Elsewhere some of the larger tech stocks are finding buyers – with software firm Xero (ASX:XRO), Computershare (ASX:CPU), Megaport (ASX:MP1) and  Life360 (ASX:360) – ahead between +1.5% to +3%.

Let’s talk banks for a sentence.

They’re all doing well in what’s suddenly become a can’t lose central bank data heavy environment. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) is out front of the Big Four, while even shoddy numbers for Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) have seen its morning losses evaporate, with MQG trading at parity by lunch. It was down some 3% a few hours ago.

In other company news, Qantas (ASX:QAN) is holding a cracker of an AGM this morning, coming just a few days after the national carrier said “ghost flight” allegations are fake news and flight seats are never booked, just held.

West Africafocused goldie Tietto Minerals (ASX:TIE) has given its Chinese suitor the backhand on Friday morning, saying Zhaojin’s 58c per share off-market play was way off target.

TIE’s board told shareholders via the ASX that the HK-based Chinese miner’s $630mn takeover offer is mere opportunism and ‘materially undervalues the company’.

Zhaojin is Tietto’s No. 2 shareholder.

A Zhaojin Mining spokesperson told Stockhead via email this morning:

“We are disappointed that the Tietto Board has not seen the value in our cash offer, which represents an attractive premium for shareholders, at a 42% premium to the five-day VWAP.

“We believe the offer provides value and certainty for Tietto shareholders and we will continue discussions with the Board and Tietto shareholders on the merits of our proposal.”

“We have Australian FIRB approval in place and have progressed work on obtaining other required approvals and believe we are well placed to obtain all required Chinese regulatory approvals.”

 

On the ASX200 9 of the 11 sectors have gained in morning business, with the banks and the interest rate sensitive Property, IT and Health Care Sectors at the wheel.

Only Energy (flat) and Consumer Staples are stopping the local screen from being a total Soylent Green.

 

ASX SECTORS AT MIDDAY ON FRIDAY

 

Via MarketIndex

 

NOT THE ASX

Eat not the Amanita Phalloides

The Victorian government says watch out for mushrooms, everyone.

Well. Mushrooms are okay. But not Death Caps.

“About 9 out of 10 fungi-related deaths are attributable to the Death Cap mushroom… and symptoms normally begin six to 24 hours after the mushroom is eaten, depending on who’s cooking and how you feel about mushies in your, let’s say Beef Wellington.

Death cap mushrooms, or Amanita phalloides, commonly grow under oak trees and “are extremely poisonous,” even after drying or cooking, according to the Vic government’s better health website.

“Consuming just one mushroom can kill an adult.”

Or several, after a few tries.

Symptoms can include: violent stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, the gov says, before adding that the mushroom’s toxins can leave a survivor’s liver seriously damaged.

Or in need of a replacement.

 

Bankman-Fried, fried by jury

The naughty FTX founder and former saviour of crypto stuff everywhere – Sam Bankman-Fried – has just been found guilty on all charges related to the collapse of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange in the first of 2 x criminal trials against the former CEO and Silicon Valley pin-up kid.

A New York jury in Manhattan federal court agreed with prosecutors that Bankman-Fried defrauded investors, customers and lenders in connection with the collapse of his crypto empire.

Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried, who founded and controlled both FTX and the hedge fund which kept it cooking – Alameda research – of misappropriating and embezzling billions of his customers’ deposits, lying to investors, regulators and pretty much everyone while ordering his executives to do the same.

SBF faced 7 charges: 2 x counts of wire fraud and 5 x conspiracy counts, and now the former darling of Silicon Valley is facing a maximum sentence of 115 years.

The sentencing has been set for March 28 next year.

 

WALL STREET

The major US indices rallied like champs during Thursday’s regular session, with the Dow and S&P 500 ahead a stonking +1.7% and +1.9%, each – also their 4th straight day of gains.

The Nasdaq Composite also climbed for the 5th session, surging by some + 1.8%.

All 11 S&P sectors finished higher, led by energy, property and financials.

On Friday morning in Sydney, US stock futures are lower – ahead of the Friday open in New York.

Not helping on that front is the tech giant with a market cap bigger than the entire German bourse – Apple whose shares are circa -3% lower in after hours trade.

Apple probably shouldn’t have warned of weaker revenue for the December quarter, a truth bomb which quite smothered some surprise earnings and revenue beats for its fiscal 4th, a 3 months which included the release of the latest iPhone #476.

 

US FUTURES circa 9.30pm, THURSDAY in NEW YORK

Via Fox

Meanwhile, markets in the States found enough in the US Federal Reserve meeting to suggest that there’s only a small chance of any additional interest rate hike.

CNBC says the odds on a rate hike before Xmas are now down to under 15%. A month ago, the chances of a December hike were at circa 40%.

“Futures pricing, which can be volatile and swing quickly, now indicates that the first rate cut could come as soon as May,” someone from CNBC added.

Those moves came amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve rate-hiking campaign is over and as the benchmark 10-year US yield dropped to a three-week low of 4.65%.

US investors still have the October jobs report dropping on Friday for further guidance.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 1 November [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Wordpress Table Plugin

MC Mining (ASX:MCM) is killing it on Friday after sharing the news of an off-market cash takeover offer from Senosi Group Investment Holdings and Dendocept both already substantial MCM shareholders.

A proposal letter dated 1 November outlines the Consortium’s proposal and intention to make an off-market cash takeover offer for all the shares in the Company not currently held by the Consortium (Proposed Takeover) and includes an indicative cash consideration offer range of AUD$0.20-AUD$0.23 per ordinary share, based on MCM’s undiluted share capital.

MCM says it’s getting an independent bunch of directors to make a call on this – since current directors – Christine Yi He, Ontiretse Mathews Senosi, An Chee Sin and Zhen Brian He are all linked to both Senosi and Dendocept already.

Exciting.

 

Meanwhile Argenic  a local biotech ‘developing novel therapeutics to reduce brain tissue death after brain injury and neurodegeneration,’ says it’s received positive initial preclinical data ‘on ARG-007’s ability to inhibit the cellular uptake of abnormal tau and aggregation of tau protein in brain cells (neurons) in two different preclinical (in vitro) models of Alzheimer’s disease.

I’m not going into detail. Other than to say this means it kind of confirms ARG-007 has a significant impact on a number of key proteins implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, (bugger it) namely… beta-amyloid, alpha-synuclein, and now tau.

The company says this makes ARG-007 an exciting multimodal protein targeting therapeutic.

Argenica is continuing to progress in vivo animal studies to further confirm the efficacy of ARG-007 in Alzheimer’s disease and will update the market as milestones are met.

 

Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) boss Andrew Bray says the goldie is doing some good things out at its 100% owned Horse Well prospect at the Yandal Gold Project.

Enough good things for a big expansion of its planned drilling.

Bray, the Chief Executive Officer, says STK just successfully completed the first diamond hole at Marwari and it was a terrific hole:

“The hole was initially planned to a target depth of 180m, however the Company elected to continue the hole for a further 111m to total depth of 291m.”

MWDD001 was only completed yesterday –  but Strickland is now ‘sufficiently confident’ in expanding the drilling program at Marwari.

A further four diamond holes will now be drilled, Mr Bray says Diamond core from MWDD001 will be sent to Perth next Friday, and STK will request the assays be fast tracked.

 

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 1 November [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Wordpress Table Plugin

Featured Companies

You might be interested in