ASX Large Caps: Energy stocks weigh as China faces huge protests; RBA says sorry

• The ASX snapped a 4-day winning streak
• Energy stocks paced the bourse lower
• The RBA apologised over guidance

Energy paced the ASX lower on Monday as crude prices fell to the lowest level since December last year.

At the close, the ASX 200 index was down 0.4% as China-related news weighed on crude prices, with Brent now trading at US$81.25 a barrel.

In a rare display of defiance against the CCP, protests have erupted across China against the government’s strict lockdown policy.

It’s the biggest mass protest since Tiananmen in 1989, with people calling out for the resignation of Xi himself.

https://twitter.com/Shanghaishang10/status/1596930306959101953?s=20&t=q3t-nO_ixUDbjQ84RYcoLw

Crude also fell as traders assessed EU’s delay in agreeing a price cap for Russian oil. The cap is set to come into effect on December 5th.

Major oil names like Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) and Santos (ASX:STO) fell around 2-3% today.

Meanwhile, Australian retail sales dropped 0.2% in October MoM, according to the ABS data released this afternoon. Compared to a year earlier, sales are up 12.5%.

Today is the final day of the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales, and analysts will be closely watching total sales figures to gauge the level of consumer confidence. If Black Friday shopping takes a hit, it won’t bode well for the Christmas period which is so important to retailers.

RBA Governor Phil Lowe has apologised over the guidance it released towards the end of 2020 which led to people taking out big mortgages.

At the time, Lowe publicly said that interest rates would not likely rise until 2024 but since then, the RBA has hiked its rates seven times, pushing the cash rate from 0.1% to 2.85%.

“Looking back, we would have chosen different language. People did not hear the caveats in what we said, and my language was always caveated,” Lowe said today.

“That’s a failure on our part. We didn’t communicate the caveats clearly enough, and we’ve certainly learned from that.”

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Coal stocks Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) and New Hope were up by 5% today. Whitehaven rose despite the dumping of 200,000 shares by its chairman Mark Vaile.

Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) rose 11% on no specific news.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Diagnostics speacialist Healius (ASX:HLS) fell 8% after reporting a 31% drop in YTD FY23 revenue to $617.5m. The company’s EBITDA also fell 64% to $124.3m as it grapples with headwinds such as shortage in staff and GPs, as well as a decline in GP bulk billing rates.

Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) fell 5% after appointing chairman Patrick Allaway to executive chair. BoQ is currently seeking to find a new CEO after incumbent George Frazis resigned.