• Aussie shares closed higher as Real Estate and Financial sectors led
  • Gold miners also rallied, while Energy stocks slumped
  • Collins Foods up almost 10pc after half year update

 

The ASX closed +0.4% higher on Tuesday, bucking the modest selloff on Wall Street overnight.

In New York, US stocks came off slightly after their fourth straight weekly win last week, but the major indexes still remained on track to record their best month of 2023.

On the ASX today, gains in Real Estate, Financial and Healthcare stocks were offset by losses in Energy stocks.

Energy was weighed down by three consecutive declines in oil prices as traders nervously await the next OPEC+ meeting on November 30.

“Given the escalation of global geopolitical tensions and forecasted slower global economic growth predictions for 2024, we anticipate further output cuts going into the new year, adding potential stability in the price,” said Zoran Kresovic from Aussie derivatives broker, Eightcap.

Gold miners meanwhile rallied, led by Northern Star (ASX:NST) and Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), which rose by 3% each.

The bullion price has been climbing north of US$2k an ounce, trading at US$2,015 an ounce now, on the back of the recent weakening in the US dollar.

“If current trends of economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures continue, there could be upward pressure on gold prices,” said Liam Hunt of Gold IRA Guide.

The Aussie dollar has also extended its recent gains, trading now at US66.25c.

Meanwhile, Australian retail sales came in weaker than expected in October, according to data release from the ABS today.

Sales dropped 0.2% from a month earlier, in a sign that the RBA’s aggressive interest-rate increases are beginning to weigh on households.

“It looks like consumers hit the pause button on some discretionary spending in October, likely waiting to take advantage of discounts during Black Friday sales events in November,” said Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Collins Foods (ASX:CKF) was the best large cap today, up nearly 10%, on the back of some strong H1 results.

Revenue for the half was up 14.3% on pcp to $696.5 million, with strong growth across all business units. Underlying NPAT was up 28.7% vs the pcp to $31.2 million. The company declared fully franked interim dividend of 12.5 cps.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) was down 1% after advising that a loaded LNG vessel docked at the Australia Pacific LNG facility on Curtis Island has lost power, and is currently unable to leave the terminal. Downstream operator of Australia Pacific LNG, ConocoPhillips, is working with all parties concerned, including the relevant maritime regulator and port authority, to resolve the situation.

Only one LNG vessel is able to dock at the LNG facility at a time. As a result, no other cargoes can be loaded until the situation is resolved. Two cargoes have already been deferred out of the FY2024 delivery schedule.

Origin expects more LNG cargos will be deferred, with Australia Pacific LNG ordinarily loading a LNG vessel for export approximately every three days.

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