ASX Large Caps: Energy stocks sold down as sluggish GDP numbers worry investors

The ASX finished flattish on Wednesday
Traders were left unimpressed with the sluggish GDP figure
Cathie Wood has increased her stake in Coinbase

The ASX closed flattish on Wednesday, with gains in Discretionary offset by losses in the Energy and Real Estate sectors.

Energy stocks were sold down after crude oil prices fell by -0.7% overnight amid concerns that China’s growth forecast suggest a bleak crude demand outlook.

Traders were also left unimpressed with today’s GDP figure, which grew by just +0.2% in the first quarter of 2023.

This figure suggests the Australian economy is growing at an annual rate of just 2.3%, down from 2.7% at the end of 2022.

Elsewhere, RBA governor Philip Lowe answered a barrage of questions from the media this morning, acknowledging the central bank’s rate hikes are doing what they are intended to and have caused consumption growth to slow.

He also reminded people that rate hikes are not all about mortgages.

“Everyone’s discussion is the mortgage channel, but there are a lot of other channels that are affecting both economic activity and inflation as well.”

Overseas, Cathie Wood has increased her stake in Coinbase after the stock plunged by over 20% in the last two days. Wood’s funds bought 419,324 shares of the cryptocurrency exchange operator.

Coinbase was charged by the US SEC overnight for operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.

This comes a day after the SEC went after Binance and its CEO CZ, alleging they misled investors about internal controls, secretly allowed customer funds to commingle, and diverted customer funds, “as they please”.

Closer to home, China surprisingly posted robust commodities import figures in May, with its coal and natural gas shipments increasing ahead of the peak summer demand.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
PNV	Polynovo Limited	1.67	14.78	6,305,553	$1,004,288,653
SQ2	Block	98.69	4.77	171,300	$2,902,443,583
GNC	GrainCorp Limited	8.02	4.09	1,307,285	$1,727,394,877
EMR	Emerald Res NL	2.05	3.54	1,665,139	$1,179,014,697
LFG	Liberty Fin Group	3.81	3.53	21,586	$1,117,998,253
IEL	Idp Education Ltd	22.92	3.48	870,471	$6,165,147,074
BGL	Bellevue Gold Ltd	1.35	3.24	2,181,911	$1,480,352,045
CMM	Capricorn Metals	4.49	3.22	500,476	$1,635,418,061
KLS	Kelsian Group Ltd	6.96	2.81	256,745	$1,822,603,870
NWH	NRW Holdings Limited	2.32	2.65	1,022,695	$1,015,177,378
GQG	GQG Partners	1.42	2.53	521,055	$4,089,635,526
WAM	WAM Capital Limited	1.54	2.33	962,920	$1,650,905,660
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	0.67	2.31	25,473,424	$1,937,095,191

Medical devices company PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) came out of trading halt swinging this morning, up by 15% after announcing its first ever $7m sales month. May’s sales of $7.2m were driven by a strong showing in the US, where it had a record monthly sales (unaudited) of $5.2m, up 97.3% on the pcp. There were also encouragingly strong sales in Canada, Hong Kong, and India and a first-time order from the Middle East.

Fund manager GQG Partners (ASX:GQG) rose 4% despite reporting a declining funds under management (FUM), from US$98.6bn in April to US$98.5bn in May.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
BPT	Beach Energy Limited	1.31	-7.57	18,999,272	$3,239,493,792
STX	Strike Energy Ltd	0.47	-4.55	6,657,223	$1,253,118,100
IPL	Incitec Pivot	2.84	-3.90	9,232,400	$5,729,563,836
SFR	Sandfire Resources	5.84	-3.31	2,139,104	$2,759,627,245
A2M	The A2 Milk Company	5.28	-2.94	4,121,797	$3,927,550,604
MEZ	Meridian Energy	5.00	-2.91	4,882	$6,512,146,510
NIC	Nickel Industries	0.88	-2.78	6,724,595	$2,721,831,546
CIA	Champion Iron Ltd	5.99	-2.68	1,868,932	$3,180,737,725
LLC	Lendlease Group	7.36	-2.52	1,679,151	$5,204,381,591
VEA	Viva Energy Group	3.12	-2.50	4,796,212	$4,941,331,990
EBO	Ebos Group Ltd	32.38	-2.50	113,971	$6,363,007,838
AAC	Australian Agricult.	1.51	-2.27	180,353	$928,260,790
KAR	Karoon Energy Ltd	1.98	-2.23	1,262,072	$1,137,482,400

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) fell -7% after saying that its Trigg 1 reservoir is interpreted to be tight with insufficient porosity and permeability to flow gas. This means that Trigg 1 will be plugged and abandoned, and the pre-planned side-track, Trigg 2, a contingent appraisal well, will not be drilled.

Sandfire Resouces (ASX:SFR) fell -3% after the company advised that Dr Roric Smith will retire as Non-Executive Director of Sandfire on 30 June to pursue personal interests. Dr. Smith has been a Director of Sandfire since 31 December 2016, and is a seasoned geologist with extensive Australian and international experience. Smith will continue to support the company in an advisory role.

Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) fell -3% after saying that forest fires in Quebec will impact a railway line the company utilises to transport high-purity iron ore concentrate from its Bloom Lake Mine to the port.

Viva Energy (ASX:VEA) also fell -3% after reporting an incident at its Geelong Refinery. Viva said a contractor crane failure occurred on Tuesday afternoon, causing a compressor to be dropped to the ground. The area was subject to an exclusion zone at the time and no one was injured.