Local stocks performed admirably on Friday considering a trans-national conflict is in full swing, but the big end of town was outperformed by small caps as the ASX 200 closed flat.
Across the large cap sectors, there were still a lot of indexes in the red.
But the broader market was helped along by a barnstorming move in tech stocks (which incidentally got smashed the day before).
Leading the way was the bellwether for high-growth tech risk — new-look Afterpay, now known as Block Inc (ASX:SQ2).
The stock absolutely surged after its US parent released a Q4 trading update which beat analyst expectations on gross transaction volumes and earnings per share.
All the big banks were lower, while energy stocks traded flat as oil prices hold just shy of US$100/barrel.
Large cap mining stocks also struggled for traction as the iron ore majors edged lower
BIG CAP WINNERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SQ2 | Block | 153.75 | 32.5% | 881,201 | $11,068,611,562 |
| PDN | Paladin Energy Ltd | 0.77 | 12.4% | 30,288,165 | $1,835,074,576 |
| APM | APM Human Services | 2.95 | 10.9% | 1,842,113 | $2,439,703,976 |
| LTR | Liontown Resources | 1.43 | 10.0% | 18,688,263 | $2,849,892,757 |
| ASM | Ausstratmaterials | 7.89 | 9.6% | 646,362 | $1,004,443,243 |
| ABC | Adbri Limited | 3.24 | 7.6% | 6,187,698 | $1,964,408,941 |
| BFL | Bsp Financial Group | 4.95 | 7.6% | 5,352 | $2,149,227,746 |
| YAL | Yancoal Aust Ltd | 3.49 | 7.4% | 242,245 | $4,291,428,170 |
| LOV | Lovisa Holdings Ltd | 19.86 | 7.4% | 403,807 | $1,988,003,451 |
| CHN | Chalice Mining Ltd | 7.4 | 7.2% | 2,628,840 | $2,449,661,971 |
| TLX | Telix Pharmaceutical | 5.19 | 7.2% | 2,602,537 | $1,491,688,876 |
| LYC | Lynas Rare Earths | 9.57 | 6.9% | 6,679,911 | $8,076,583,408 |
| IMU | Imugene Limited | 0.235 | 6.8% | 60,232,342 | $1,286,289,221 |
| HMC | Homeco Limited | 6.45 | 6.6% | 368,892 | $1,756,111,448 |
| CDA | Codan Limited | 7.59 | 6.6% | 962,762 | $1,287,893,617 |
Along with Block Inc, also among the large cap leaders was uranium player Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN), which jumped by more than 10% following the release of its half-year accounts.
BIG CAP LOSERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BKL | Blackmores Limited | 75.31 | -10.5% | 293,729 | $1,631,765,828 |
| MFG | Magellan Fin Grp Ltd | 17.78 | -10.1% | 3,036,089 | $3,673,403,219 |
| SBM | St Barbara Limited | 1.285 | -8.9% | 6,835,371 | $1,000,433,139 |
| NST | Northern Star | 10 | -5.6% | 8,210,392 | $12,333,232,597 |
| GOR | Gold Road Res Ltd | 1.455 | -5.5% | 3,639,423 | $1,358,851,565 |
| RRL | Regis Resources | 1.87 | -5.3% | 7,973,805 | $1,490,683,189 |
| CEN | Contact Energy Ltd | 7.2 | -5.1% | 1,124 | $1,868,564,544 |
| SLR | Silver Lake Resource | 1.795 | -4.8% | 4,534,676 | $1,753,368,473 |
| DEG | De Grey Mining | 1.1 | -4.8% | 12,102,863 | $1,625,302,746 |
| EVN | Evolution Mining Ltd | 4.19 | -4.6% | 9,360,281 | $8,046,903,728 |
| CMM | Capricorn Metals | 3.67 | -3.9% | 1,095,421 | $1,419,437,254 |
| ILU | Iluka Resources | 10.15 | -3.9% | 4,177,552 | $4,469,016,732 |
| RMS | Ramelius Resources | 1.495 | -3.9% | 4,354,542 | $1,348,783,844 |
| MPL | Medibank Private Ltd | 3.05 | -3.8% | 13,351,146 | $8,730,190,271 |
Online retailer Kogan.com (ASX:KGN) crashed into a trading halt/wall today not long after getting its near $12 million loss for the December half off its chest.
That’s the all you can eat, Christmas Black Friday period – so looks like those continuing supply chain and inventory problems are some crazy schtick.
Apparently founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan told stakeholders – “So. Not a fun time for the business and certainly challenges that we wouldn’t have wanted to have to overcome, but we’re much stronger for having to overcome them.”