• Local shares dropped on Friday, but up slightly for the week
  • Energy stocks weighed after a 2pc drop in crude prices
  • Microsoft to become a subject of US government investigation over breach

 

The ASX 200 dropped by -0.25% on Friday, and for the week, the index closed higher by +0.2%.

Energy stocks weighed heavily on the markets today after a 2% drop in crude oil prices last night.

“Oil has had a nice run up, but some of that was the Russian-Ukraine conflict, which has yet to lead to a meaningful disruption of Russian oil shipments,” said Oanda analyst, Edward Moya.

However, Moya believes that oil prices won’t stay down for too long.

“Oil prices are likely to head higher, so any dips will likely be bought into,” he said.

The Consumer Discretionary was the best performer today after an 18% rise in casino operator, The Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) – see more details below.

Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar is on track to close the week at two-month lows, trading at US65.20c now.

The Japanese Yen is also trading lower close to the psychological 145 level vs USD this afternoon, a week after the Bank of Japan made a surprise tweak to its yield curve control program.

Elsewhere, the US government said it will investigate Microsoft’s role in the cybersecurity breach of government officials’ email accounts. US authorities suspected Chinese hackers, although no evidence has been provided.

 

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
SGR The Star Ent Grp 1.16 18.46 36,425,394 $1,578,213,855
MAD Mader Group Limited 7.27 9.32 520,587 $1,330,000,000
AMP AMP Limited 1.24 7.39 25,304,156 $3,218,390,530
GMD Genesis Minerals 1.48 6.12 7,801,322 $1,439,896,191
CTT Cettire 3.31 5.25 38,937,011 $1,197,088,011
BLD Boral Limited 4.96 4.54 3,095,937 $5,228,639,106
BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 1.64 4.47 1,687,611 $1,769,986,680
CRN Coronado Global Res 1.62 4.02 2,830,157 $2,606,885,550
DDR Dicker Data Limited 8.55 3.39 203,199 $1,489,957,926
DOW Downer EDI Limited 4.24 3.29 1,104,640 $2,753,452,084
MAQ Macquarie Technology 69.25 3.27 20,586 $1,632,526,612
JLG Johns Lyng Group 5.68 2.99 502,496 $1,522,498,609
PNV Polynovo Limited 1.60 2.90 894,116 $1,069,860,764
HVN Harvey Norman 3.86 2.80 5,122,391 $4,672,524,953
AX1 Accent Group Ltd 1.89 2.72 542,974 $1,013,764,023
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The Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) rose over 20% after saying it has reached an in-principle agreement with the NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, to amend its poker machine obligations to the State. Following this agreement, Star expects additional duty payable in FY24 to only be around $10 million, which represents a slash of two-thirds from the original proposal.

Nick Scali (ASX:NCK) said full-year FY23 revenue was $507.7m, up 15% on pcp. NPAT was $101.1m, up 26.1% on pcp. Final dividend per share of 35c, flat on pcp.

Online fashion retailer Cettire (ASX:CTT) extended its 20% gain yesterday by another 5%, despite news that founder and CEO Dean Mintz had sold an 8.7% stake, or around $100 million.

 

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
AZS Azure Minerals 2.30 -10.85 5,264,615 $1,006,809,066
GNE Genesis Energy Ltd 2.35 -4.47 195,226 $2,620,569,029
NHC New Hope Corporation 5.66 -3.83 2,600,295 $4,970,572,528
BFL Bsp Financial Group 5.70 -3.39 505 $2,756,597,876
BSL BlueScope Steel Ltd 20.34 -3.37 918,076 $9,589,665,184
MCY Mercury NZ Limited 5.98 -3.24 4,582 $8,570,379,998
WHC Whitehaven Coal 7.22 -3.15 5,610,067 $6,232,675,841
BPT Beach Energy Limited 1.67 -3.05 5,619,433 $3,923,893,888
WBT Weebit Nano Ltd 5.22 -2.97 638,129 $1,008,537,162
A2M The A2 Milk Company 4.95 -2.85 3,201,904 $3,674,858,929
STX Strike Energy Ltd 0.43 -2.84 2,350,341 $1,113,882,756
OCL Objective Corp 13.42 -2.40 7,692 $1,308,690,666
SQ2 Block 95.24 -2.39 110,458 $3,011,082,597
AFI Australian Foundat. 7.04 -2.36 591,576 $8,942,913,514
WDS Woodside Energy 38.11 -2.28 2,228,590 $74,051,241,069
MIN Mineral Resources. 67.83 -2.27 719,728 $13,496,956,694
BKI BKI Investment Ltd 1.78 -2.20 265,552 $1,441,045,641
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Bluescope Steel (ASX:BSL) says it will invest $415 million in Western Sydney to add 240ktpa metal coating capacity at its Erskine Park, NSW site. The project is expected to be fully commissioned and operational by the end of calendar year 2025, with a total capital cost of $415 million.

Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) was the worst large cap today, down 10% on no specific news.

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