ASX Large Caps: Tech saves the day as lithium stocks bounce back

ASX ends Friday 0.74% higher, and the week 1.57% higher
Lithium stocks rebound today after the plunge yesteday
Tech sector is up 4.5%

Local shares closed up by 0.35% on Friday, and ended the week 1.20% higher as the ASX rebounded from its worst week in two years.

The Tech sector was the main driver for the bourse today, jumping up by 4.5%. Sector heavyweights like Megaport (ASX:MP1) and Novonix (ASX:NVX) surged by more than 10% as investors moved to buy quality names on the dip.

The Energy sector meanwhile lost 2% as oil prices continue to slide this week on recession fears.

The commodity space has begun to price in a recession outcome. Copper prices, a barometer often used to gauge the health of the global economy, continued to plummet overnight.

“The US Federal Reserve is tightening aggressively. Holding copper’s getting expensive. The commodity world’s flagship is under fire,” Tom Price, an analyst at Liberum, told FT.

Meanwhile, ASX lithium stocks bounced back today after being hammered in yesterday’s trading.

The sector turned positive possibly because the automaker Stellanis’ has committed to a “world first” $76m investment into Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL). You can read all about that deal here.

US Fed Chairman’s statement to Congress last night seemed to have little impact on the ASX.

On the second day of his congressional hearings, Powell said achieving the Fed’s goal of an economic soft landing will be “very challenging.”

But he also said that the US, unlike other countries, has “a very strong economy” and Fed policymakers “have tools to deal with demand”.

“I remain unconvinced that inflation will magically just stop in its tracks just because Mr Powell mentioned the word recession,” said Oanda analyst Jeff Halley.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
LFS	Latitude Group	1.28	18%	$170,838	$1,121,538,461
NVX	Novonix Limited	2.42	13%	$5,374,256	$1,044,795,443
TLX	Telix Pharmaceutical	4.63	12%	$799,202	$1,298,107,724
SQ2	Block	98.85	11%	$417,884	$3,668,614,565
LTR	Liontown Resources	0.97	10%	$15,287,610	$1,929,158,174
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	0.59	9%	$15,597,290	$1,593,111,766
PNI	Pinnacle Investment	7.47	8%	$606,346	$1,374,970,446
PLS	Pilbara Min Ltd	2.22	8%	$23,342,795	$6,102,539,187
CXO	Core Lithium	0.91	8%	$29,132,520	$1,455,393,841
WTC	Wisetech Global Ltd	38.84	8%	$463,163	$11,741,934,549
REA	REA Group	113.73	8%	$240,539	$13,927,797,016

Latitude Group (ASX:LFS) was the best performing large cap today, up 18% on no specific news.

Lithium stocks Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) was up 13% while Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) rebounded 9% on dip buying.

Big tech stocks like Xero (ASX:XRO) and Wistech (ASX:WTC) rose 7%.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
CEN	Contact Energy Ltd	6.48	-4%	1,948	$1,671,988,392
ZIM	Zimplats Holding Ltd	24.16	-3%	990	$2,690,941,225
VEA	Viva Energy Group	2.75	-3%	1,976,836	$4,375,203,103
MGH	Maas Group Holdings	3.60	-2%	182,628	$1,092,174,606
ALD	Ampol Limited	33.21	-2%	483,564	$8,111,803,450
NHC	New Hope Corporation	3.23	-2%	2,212,253	$2,755,101,941
OZL	OZ Minerals	19.13	-2%	1,823,548	$6,561,002,764
WHC	Whitehaven Coal	4.50	-2%	15,368,215	$4,516,040,220
PPH	Pushpay Holdings Ltd	1.17	-2%	201,297	$1,357,644,431
BPT	Beach Energy Limited	1.59	-2%	5,068,267	$3,707,167,191
S32	South32 Limited	3.97	-2%	12,678,964	$18,776,016,392
BEN	Bendigo and Adelaide	9.05	-2%	898,121	$5,209,467,417
WDS	Woodside Energy	30.60	-2%	5,044,271	$59,127,067,869
NUF	Nufarm Limited	4.99	-2%	1,304,758	$1,926,697,121
AZJ	Aurizon Holdings Ltd	3.76	-1%	4,024,863	$7,013,082,171
CWY	Cleanaway Waste Ltd	2.53	-1%	4,739,869	$5,280,224,241
ORI	Orica Limited	15.56	-1%	655,470	$6,447,265,722