ASX Large Caps: Market subdued as iron ore price eases; BNPL on watch after collapse of Openpay

Local shares finished 0.25% lower on Monday
Autralian retail sales fall in Q4
BNPL sector came under pressure

The ASX 200 index closed Monday 0.25% lower as it tracked movements on Wall Street.

Energy and Mining sectors rose half a percent, while all other sectors were in the red.

Investors were downbeat after the latest Australian retail figures show a 0.2% fall in Q4.

CBA economist, Stephen Wu, said,”With another rate hike expected at the February RBA Board meeting, and a large stock of fixed rate debt due to rollover over this year, demand will only weaken further from here.”

The RBA will convene for its first meeting of the year tomorrow, and according to a Reuters poll, 30 out of 31 economists expect a 25bp hike to 3.35%.

That would be the central bank’s fourth consecutive 25bp hike, and ninth back-to-back hike this cycle – which is the most aggressive in history.

“Still, there is evidence that the (relatively low) interest rate is starting to bite on the economy,” said Matt Simpson, a senior market analyst at City Index.

“If we look at data since their last meeting, it could be argued the economy is slowing overall.

“Retail sales dipped for the first time in a year in Q4 by -0.2% q/q, as consumers cut back spending. This could be taken as a sign from the RBA that their tighter policy is working,” Simpson said.

Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) was the best large cap performer today, up 10% after US mining giant Newmont upgraded its all-scrip offer when the first one was rejected.

Newmont is now offering Newcrest shareholders 0.380 Newmont shares for each Newcrest share, after previously offering 0.363 shares.

Singapore iron ore futures have dropped to a near three-week, pushing iron ore miners like Fortescue (ASX:FMG) lower today.

Meanwhile, the BNPL sector came under pressure after the collapse and demise of BNPL play and small capped Openpay (ASX:OPY). Sector leader Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) fell 1% on the news.

Looking ahead to tonight, the US market will be interesting as US-China tensions have increased with the downing of a monitoring balloon belonging to China in US territory. China has responded with a threat of ‘serious repercussions’.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
NCM	Newcrest Mining	24.64	9.73	11,870,063	$20,063,763,054
BPT	Beach Energy Limited	1.54	3.70	10,996,217	$3,387,780,479
PXA	Pexagroup	13.46	2.98	412,356	$2,317,648,049
IPL	Incitec Pivot	3.52	2.78	10,409,491	$6,642,409,599
CRN	Coronado Global Res	2.13	2.66	2,450,278	$3,470,259,221
WHC	Whitehaven Coal	8.44	2.62	6,021,936	$7,309,652,763
CPU	Computershare Ltd	24.62	2.54	1,568,917	$14,495,541,357
AUB	AUB Group Ltd	24.76	2.53	212,352	$2,451,962,010
NHC	New Hope	5.92	2.25	3,579,166	$5,108,340,272
VUK	Virgin Money Uk PLC	3.32	2.15	2,993,151	$2,398,265,932
TPG	TPG Telecom Limited	4.78	2.14	1,476,004	$8,701,719,011
OCL	Objective Corp	13.88	2.13	37,172	$1,292,505,734
BGA	Bega Cheese Ltd	3.72	2.06	554,715	$1,106,190,820
NUF	Nufarm Limited	5.82	1.93	465,770	$2,172,183,942
SMR	Stanmore Resources	3.53	1.88	589,086	$3,118,780,675

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) jumped 4% after getting an upgrade from Morgans.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
NCK	Nick Scali Limited	10.805	-13.00	2,551,664	$1,006,020,000
SDR	Siteminder	4.030	-6.93	172,739	$1,190,121,596
SYA	Sayona Mining Ltd	0.245	-5.77	46,046,620	$2,259,302,337
LKE	Lake Resources	0.760	-5.59	6,354,907	$1,143,055,486
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	0.758	-5.31	15,988,377	$2,384,078,164
CXO	Core Lithium	1.070	-5.31	14,918,420	$2,089,780,719
AGY	Argosy Minerals Ltd	0.708	-5.03	4,972,620	$1,046,283,586
BRN	Brainchip Ltd	0.633	-4.89	6,530,130	$1,175,093,666
ARU	Arafura Rare Earths	0.595	-4.80	14,583,301	$1,317,901,881
CCP	Credit Corp Group	22.045	-4.77	155,777	$1,575,747,716
HVN	Harvey Norman	4.205	-4.65	3,899,987	$5,494,889,344
LTR	Liontown Resources	1.488	-4.65	9,733,672	$3,426,439,146
PWH	Pwr Holdings Limited	11.475	-4.53	238,725	$1,206,571,687