• 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.

 

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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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
NHC New Hope Corporation 5.705 6% 4,936,712 $4,754,179,214
SMR Stanmore Resources 2.53 4% 711,460 $2,199,371,343
BKW Brickworks Limited 22.63 4% 158,084 $3,323,501,692
SNZ Summerset Grp Hldgs 8.57 4% 477 $1,921,927,882
WHC Whitehaven Coal 9.365 3% 7,482,304 $8,429,474,868
YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 5.46 3% 2,259,531 $6,985,124,622
IMU Imugene Limited 0.185 3% 7,027,936 $1,146,545,334
SEK Seek Limited 22.06 3% 385,810 $7,619,389,681
OBL Omni Bridgeway Ltd 4.35 3% 186,573 $1,150,727,643
JDO Judo Cap Holdings 1.3 2% 507,210 $1,404,010,237
ELD Elders Limited 10.385 2% 764,486 $1,589,801,992
REA REA Group 123.7 2% 74,859 $16,002,037,323
OCL Objective Corp 13.21 2% 50,826 $1,230,233,207
NEU Neuren Pharmaceut. 8.37 2% 261,439 $1,034,178,200
NSR National Storage 2.445 2% 1,262,051 $2,880,057,370
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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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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
HLS Healius 3.115 -8% 4,613,029 $1,957,122,748
LTR Liontown Resources 1.87 -7% 17,809,236 $4,392,870,700
MCY Mercury NZ Limited 4.99 -6% 26,290 $7,373,562,358
BOQ Bank of Queensland. 7.125 -6% 8,099,845 $4,932,786,676
LKE Lake Resources 0.94 -5% 10,081,252 $1,370,429,228
29M 29Metalslimited 2.375 -4% 411,776 $1,193,763,126
BRN Brainchip Ltd 0.705 -4% 7,278,029 $1,269,243,676
KAR Karoon Energy Ltd 2.175 -4% 1,742,400 $1,271,664,385
CXO Core Lithium 1.285 -4% 34,341,766 $2,454,156,424
SFR Sandfire Resources 4.995 -4% 3,218,741 $2,124,740,729
CHN Chalice Mining Ltd 5.12 -3% 918,337 $1,994,375,128
IGO IGO Limited 14.54 -3% 3,352,016 $11,396,880,586
MFG Magellan Fin Grp Ltd 9.73 -3% 887,131 $1,835,802,619
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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.