• ASX starts the quarter flat
  • RBA appoints a new female deputy governor
  • Property prices still up nationally in March

 

Local shares closed flat to start the first day of a new quarter. For the week, the ASX 200 index was up 1.32%.

Energy and Miners led the bourse, but their gains were offset by losses in the Tech sector.

Despite the steep drop in oil prices overnight, local Energy stocks like Origin (ASX:ORG) and Santos (ASX:STO) rose by over 2%.

Oil prices were battered after US President Biden ordered a massive release of US strategic oil reserves. Around 1 million barrels a day from the country’s reserves will be released to ease supply constraints over the next six months.

Meanwhile, Australia has got our first ever woman as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank.

Earlier today, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced that Michele Bullock has been promoted from assistant governor to the deputy governor role. She replaces Guy Debelle, who has left the central bank to become the CFO of Fortescue Future Industries.

In other news today, the CoreLogic Home Price index shows that national home prices rose by 0.7% in March, and 18.2% over 12 months.

Capital city prices lifted 0.3% in March, led by Brisbane and Adelaide which led the national average. Both Sydney and Melbourne home prices were down 0.2% and 0.1% for the month respectively.

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Metal miners South32 (ASX:S32) and IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) continued their bullish run on the back of rising metal prices, up by 5% and 2% respectively.

Tabcorp (ASX:TAH) also continued to rise, up 3% today and 8% for the week, after announcing a possible demerger of its lottery and wagering businesses.

Firefinch (ASX:FFX) surged 12% after announcing the receipt of US$130m in cash from Ganfeng to formalise the joint venture to develop the Goulamina lithium project in Mali.

Goulamina is expected to be one of the largest hard rock lithium projects in the world, with Stage 2 expansion expected to take its production profile up to an enormous 880,000tpa.

Another lithium play, Allkem (ASX:AKE) was up 7% after saying that market conditions have increased the price it receives from the sale of lithium carbonate from its Olaroz Lithium Facility.

AKE revealed that the June quarter FY22 average price received for lithium carbonate is expected to be approximately US$35,000/t FOB, on sales of approximately 3,500 tonnes.

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