The ASX is all wrong on Thursday.
The benchmark index fell almost 3% by lunch.
It entered official, technical correction territory at about 1pm Sydney time, making it 11% worth of all wrong since its August highs, those many years ago.
Tech stocks: all wrong by 5.1%.
Healthcare: all wrong by about 4%.
At the close the S&P/ASX200 was still sharply lower, shedding 125 points or 1.8% to a shiny new 100-day low.
Blame Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s promises of a March interest-rate bonanza, blame the canary in the gold mine – Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) in this case (the WA digger is the wrong side of 12% wrong).
Elsewhere, Woodside Energy (ASX:WPL) says it’s done with Myanmar in the wake of last year’s military coup.
Woodside put a pin in its interests there last year and the energy major says Myanmar’s deteriorating human rights situation has only made its remaining petroleum deals even less interesting than before.
The energy major expects it’ll be copping a near $200 million hit.
BIG CAP WINNERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BPT | Beach Energy Limited | 1.415 | 8.4% | 20,331,511 | $2,977,140,421 |
| AST | AusNet Services Ltd | 2.58 | 4.5% | 19,840,505 | $9,460,012,280 |
| PTM | Platinum Asset | 2.45 | 3.8% | 5,699,715 | $1,384,562,204 |
| LKE | Lake Resources | 0.865 | 3.6% | 13,810,556 | $1,020,620,594 |
| STO | Santos Ltd | 6.93 | 3.1% | 17,264,241 | $22,760,113,387 |
| NHC | New Hope Corporation | 2.25 | 2.7% | 2,756,087 | $1,822,862,010 |
| CIA | Champion Iron Ltd | 5.84 | 2.6% | 2,298,273 | $2,881,938,774 |
| WSA | Western Areas Ltd | 3.54 | 2.6% | 4,517,262 | $1,109,668,885 |
| IFT | Infratil Limited | 7.18 | 2.6% | 55,040 | $5,076,220,625 |
| S32 | South32 Limited | 3.83 | 2.4% | 28,614,495 | $17,390,741,016 |
| EBO | Ebos Group Ltd | 36.2 | 2.4% | 68,138 | $6,671,543,969 |
Amid a sea of red, energy stocks ruled the roost as oil prices stay elevated — a key input for the upward pressure on supply-side inflation which is helping to drive down broader markets.
ASX oil producer Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) was the standout, gaining 8% in Thursday trade. BPT was accompanied by solid gains for Santos (ASX:STO), which closed 3.1% higher.
BIG CAP LOSERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEG | De Grey Mining | 1.15 | -11.5% | 9,044,254 | $1,828,350,583 |
| EVN | Evolution Mining Ltd | 3.46 | -11.3% | 18,820,732 | $7,148,729,964 |
| SLR | Silver Lake Resources | 1.495 | -10.7% | 10,300,123 | $1,483,154,202 |
| CDA | Codan Limited | 8.81 | -9.9% | 1,639,747 | $1,769,044,884 |
| WTC | Wisetech Global Ltd | 43.43 | -9.6% | 1,512,313 | $15,676,770,122 |
| MP1 | Megaport Limited | 13.39 | -9.5% | 1,785,040 | $2,335,259,188 |
| Z1P | Zip Co Ltd | 2.91 | -9.3% | 14,240,650 | $1,890,159,978 |
| GQG | GQG Partners | 1.475 | -8.4% | 3,087,121 | $4,754,016,749 |
| SDR | Siteminder | 5.41 | -8.3% | 139,132 | $1,603,400,278 |
| NST | Northern Star | 8.51 | -8.3% | 9,028,757 | $10,807,591,927 |
| HMC | Homeco Limited | 6.38 | -7.8% | 432,745 | $2,008,643,177 |
| REA | REA Group | 135.65 | -7.8% | 257,739 | $19,430,479,104 |
| IEL | Idp Education Ltd | 27.61 | -7.5% | 1,399,816 | $8,308,335,898 |
| ALU | Altium Limited | 34.34 | -7.4% | 546,187 | $4,873,558,499 |
| 360 | Life360 Inc. | 7.07 | -7.2% | 1,405,099 | $1,395,078,592 |
| XRO | Xero Ltd | 104.31 | -7.0% | 852,031 | $16,717,307,930 |
| OCL | Objective Corp | 14.98 | -7.0% | 124,549 | $1,522,437,224 |
| CTT | Cettire | 2.75 | -6.8% | 1,200,535 | $1,124,652,749 |
Gold stocks across the ASX came under major pressure on Thursday — possibly reflective of the rise in real yields as bond yields rose again overnight and during the Asian session.
Leading the laggards was former junior explorer, now – +$1bn market cap gold play De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) -which fell more than 10%.
It was also a rough session for Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN). Stockhead’s Josh Chiat has more on that here.