ASX Large Caps: Shares end higher, but the key Fed and RBA decisions await next week

ASX large caps roundup 3 June 2022. Picture: Gety Image

ASX closes 0.85% higher today, up 0.75% for the week
Lithium stocks bounced back after Wednesday’s collapse
US Fed and RBA boards meet next week

Local blue chips tracked Wall Street higher today, as lithium and other metal miners rebounded strongly.

At the close, the ASX 200 was up by 0.85%, led by the Mining sector which rose by more than 2.5%.

For the week, the ASX 200 was down 0.75%.

Lithium producers around the world took a hammering on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs sent a note saying the price of three key battery metals — cobalt, lithium and nickel – were overcooked and would drop over the next two years.

Today the sector rebounded despite a bit of jitttery news as Mali-based gold and lithium explorer Firefinch (ASX:FFX) plunged by more than 60%.

The drop in share price reflected the spinoff of Firefinch’s lithium business, with the demerged business, Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL), set to start trading on the ASX on June 23.

Along with Mining, the Tech sector has also jumped by more than 2% today in line with the Nasdaq’s 2.69% overnight.

But stockmarkets in the US and Australia will face a crucible test next week, as both the Fed and RBA have scheduled board meetings to announce the latest round of rate hikes.

Investors have struggled for months to assess the likely size and pace of these planned rate increases.

“It’s a very difficult environment. There are so many factors at play here, and the dynamics are very difficult to interpret,” Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, told the Wall Street Journal.

“We think the Fed will have to be extremely aggressive to get inflation under control.”

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
MND	Monadelphous Group	12.47	9%	789,961	$1,087,900,091
LKE	Lake Resources	1.4325	8%	13,749,056	$1,774,002,669
GOR	Gold Road Res Ltd	1.365	7%	4,716,241	$1,122,313,627
CIA	Champion Iron Ltd	7.79	7%	1,303,927	$3,745,436,101
SNZ	Summerset Grp Hldgs	9.58	6%	2,206	$2,079,869,562
NIC	Nickel Industries	1.2925	6%	5,943,977	$3,318,497,299
PLS	Pilbara Min Ltd	2.425	6%	42,478,554	$6,787,181,960
5EA	5Eadvanced	3.72	6%	1,682,707	$1,080,834,055
CXO	Core Lithium	1.21	6%	23,301,633	$1,974,882,561
LTR	Liontown Resources	1.26	6%	16,962,546	$2,608,747,986
OCL	Objective Corp	15.7	5%	25,342	$1,412,626,058
WTC	Wisetech Global Ltd	42.875	5%	385,099	$13,337,767,232

Lithium producers like Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) and Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) were some of the best performing stocks today, rising by 7%-9%.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
FFX	Firefinch Ltd	0.345	-64%	51,088,433	$1,122,181,060
HLS	Healius	3.82	-8%	11,021,041	$2,408,079,265
ACL	Au Clinical Labs	5.03	-6%	1,334,638	$1,079,811,980
DMP	Domino Pizza Enterpr	66.68	-3%	259,940	$5,977,413,301
ANN	Ansell Limited	25.99	-3%	974,503	$3,434,936,885
TLC	The Lottery Corp	4.44	-2%	4,367,728	$10,127,261,249
COF	Centuria Office REIT	1.975	-2%	1,153,912	$1,206,620,601
GMA	Genworth Mortgage	2.94	-2%	1,311,634	$1,170,476,439
ERA	Energy Resources	0.295	-2%	9,075	$1,107,414,959
MGH	Maas Group Holdings	4.57	-2%	286,937	$1,373,357,770

Healthcare services provider Healius (ASX:HLS) dropped 6% after releasing a trading update.

The company says its Q3 Imaging business is slightly ahead of the May guidance, while its Pathology business is ahead of Medicare data.

For the year to date to May 31, Healius’ EBIT was in the order of $473 million, a 100% increase on the unaudited underlying EBIT of $234 million for the same period in FY 2021.

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