ASX Large Caps: QBE, A2 Milk surge ahead despite bears winning the battle this week

The ASX slipped on Friday, down 1% for the week
RBA boss Phil Lowe says sorry over Barrenjoey meeting
QBE, A2 Milk surged

The ASX finished 0.80% lower on Friday, capping a volatile week in which the index slipped by over 1%.

10 out of 11 sectors were in the red today; Utilities was the only one to show any sign of resistance, up by 1%.

Investors heard from RBA governor Phil Lowe as he gave a testimony in a parliamentary hearing Friday.

Lowe said RBA officials won’t attend events at Barrenjoey again after details of his visit were leaked to the press.

“There’s nothing untoward here but we need to be able to have conversations with people without the other side of that conversation running off to the press,” Lowe said.

“When that happens it destroys trust. There are consequences from that.”

In stock news, logistics tech company Wisetech (ASX:WTC) fell 3% after acquiring US-based railway software provider, Blume Global, or $US414 million ($600 million) – its biggest deal ever.

Amongst companies to report earnings today were QBE Insurance (ASX:QBE), which surged by 8% after reporting a $US770m full year NPAT, up 3% on pcp.

Westpac (ASX:WBC), in its “Capital, Credit Quality and Funding” update, said that nearly half of its $471 billion home loans were made under the assumption that rates will end up at a lower level than what they will be once the RBA finishes its rate rising cycle.

This, Westpac says, could breach the bank’s “serviceability buffers”, the safeguards applied by banks under APRA rules.

Bitcoin meanwhile has slipped 4% in the last few hours to US$23,800 after some hawkish comments last night from Fed officials.

A stream of negative regulatory newsflow hasn’t helped the crypto market.

In the latest crackdown, the SEC is suing Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon over the collapse of Terraform last year which led to a wave of bankruptcies.

Looking ahead to tonight’s session on Wall Street, US import/export prices and EU current account data are expected to be released.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market cap
QBE	QBE Insurance Group	14.33	6.94	8,391,873	$19,895,078,222
A2M	The A2 Milk Company	7.075	5.91	5,130,493	$4,898,463,546
CTD	Corp Travel Limited	18.2	5.08	1,870,259	$2,534,361,921
GUD	G.U.D. Holdings	9.99	3.95	904,381	$1,353,998,029
SNZ	Summerset Grp Hldgs	8.55	2.89	968	$1,928,891,389
SUL	Super Ret Rep Ltd	12.85	2.80	1,329,957	$2,822,831,250
ORA	Orora Limited	3.415	2.55	3,212,367	$2,815,021,461
CPU	Computershare Ltd	23.83	2.45	1,402,045	$14,042,744,355
GRR	Grange Resources.	1.055	2.43	2,259,960	$1,192,058,859
NAN	Nanosonics Limited	4.97	2.05	641,557	$1,470,907,236
GNE	Genesis Energy Ltd	2.59	1.97	10,481	$2,685,679,853
GNC	GrainCorp Limited	7.745	1.91	1,748,786	$1,699,744,940
MEZ	Meridian Energy	4.97	1.84	23,928	$6,165,950,453
ORG	Origin Energy	7	1.74	4,886,962	$11,852,503,976
CKF	Collins Foods Ltd	8.82	1.73	291,014	$1,017,186,699
IMD	Imdex Limited	2.495	1.42	338,918	$1,226,215,339
IAG	Insurance Australia	4.845	1.36	5,308,654	$11,710,565,264

The A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) rose 7% after announcing that as part of the registration process, the Ministry for Primary Industries will commence the audit process of Synlait’s Dunsandel facility on behalf of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in the week of 20 February.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
PWH	Pwr Holdings	10.48	-14.38	1,432,083	$1,228,655,362
SQ2	Block	113.01	-7.44	164,096	$3,807,838,195
CIP	Centuria I REIT	3.275	-5.62	32,821,873	$2,203,209,303
NHC	New Hope Corporation	5.215	-5.53	8,546,673	$4,870,127,513
WHC	Whitehaven Coal	7.565	-4.96	16,535,147	$7,078,447,202
GQG	GQG Partners	1.375	-4.84	1,213,224	$4,266,803,852
XRO	Xero Ltd	78.47	-4.78	280,745	$12,379,469,418
TLC	The Lottery Corp	4.825	-4.64	5,604,114	$11,262,404,817
LFS	Latitude Group	1.295	-4.43	197,648	$1,408,138,815
ABP	Abacus Property Grp.	2.93	-4.25	1,913,180	$2,734,592,357
SDR	Siteminder	3.88	-4.20	97,859	$1,113,162,232
PLS	Pilbara Min Ltd	4.5	-4.05	38,767,320	$14,060,476,908
CQR	Charter Hall Retail	3.975	-3.75	650,098	$2,400,478,285
LLC	Lendlease Group	7.74	-3.73	2,194,578	$5,541,154,887