The ASX 200 eked out a small Tuesday gain, as local stocks drifted sideways following a weak lead from Wall Street.
There wasn’t much happening on the macro front to drive any sector much higher or lower, although a dicey trading update from Woolworths (ASX:WOW) acted as a drag on the consumer staples sector.
Elsewhere, the big banks and the iron ore majors edged higher while energy stocks fell, while the ASX 200 Information Technology index traded dead flat.
On US markets, S&P500 futures were pointing slightly higher – up by around 0.15% as at 4pm EST.
BIG CAP WINNERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTT | Cettire | 3.9 | 10.8% | 1,132,140 | $1,341,958,534 |
| AEF | Australian Ethical | 13.1 | 8.8% | 358,089 | $1,353,141,142 |
| BKL | Blackmores Limited | 93.31 | 6.7% | 51,495 | $1,694,958,470 |
| 29M | 29Metalslimited | 2.78 | 5.3% | 739,529 | $1,268,401,200 |
| CHC | Charter Hall Group | 21.95 | 5.3% | 3,133,704 | $9,711,453,181 |
| UMG | United Malt Group | 4.39 | 4.8% | 1,498,981 | $1,253,560,576 |
| AVZ | AVZ Minerals Ltd | 0.72 | 3.6% | 70,141,159 | $2,287,678,041 |
| WTC | Wisetech Global Ltd | 55.95 | 3.6% | 2,602,547 | $17,556,082,176 |
| ASM | Ausstratmaterials | 11.25 | 3.6% | 307,288 | $1,515,035,225 |
| ABB | Aussie Broadband | 4.94 | 3.6% | 1,092,909 | $1,067,678,406 |
| CGC | Costa Group Holdings | 2.94 | 3.5% | 1,988,842 | $1,318,835,284 |
| SBM | St Barbara Limited | 1.535 | 3.4% | 5,545,734 | $1,053,647,668 |
| MPL | Medibank Private Ltd | 3.45 | 3.3% | 8,181,545 | $9,198,370,822 |
| CKF | Collins Foods Ltd | 13.04 | 3.2% | 443,135 | $1,475,038,830 |
| PME | Pro Medicus Limited | 60.02 | 3.1% | 208,353 | $6,075,283,417 |
| CIA | Champion Iron Ltd | 5.02 | 3.1% | 2,618,012 | $2,466,615,436 |
| GNC | GrainCorp Limited | 7.63 | 3.0% | 2,255,666 | $1,695,820,203 |
Among stocks with a market cap of +$1bn, luxury fashion ecommerce platform Cettire (ASX:CTT) performed strongly today on no news with a gain of around 10%. CTT was the only ecommerce play on today’s large cap winner’s list.
Today’s gains took Cettire shares back towards all-time highs near $4 — well up from its December 2020 listing price of 50c when it raised $65m at IPO.
ESG-focused investment fund Australian Ethical Investments (ASX:AEF) also jumped on no news. Shares in the $1.35bn fund manager have risen by around 200% since the start of the year.
Among large caps with announcements, copper play 29Metals (ASX:29M) led the pack after providing an operational update on its Capricorn and Golden Grove projects in early afternoon trade.
29M was one of the biggest floats of the year when it raised $527.8 million at $2 a share to list in July with a market cap of $960.9 million. Shares in the company closed today at $2.75.
BIG CAP LOSERS
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| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSB | Mesoblast Limited | 1.405 | -17.4% | 9,666,180 | $1,102,783,319 |
| PDN | Paladin Energy Ltd | 0.74 | -10.3% | 26,660,481 | $2,210,042,977 |
| WOW | Woolworths Group Ltd | 37.45 | -7.7% | 9,619,297 | $49,157,715,897 |
| IMU | Imugene Limited | 0.485 | -6.7% | 30,435,664 | $2,994,027,397 |
| LKE | Lake Resources | 0.835 | -6.2% | 7,763,057 | $1,084,808,517 |
| WHC | Whitehaven Coal | 2.33 | -4.1% | 11,645,266 | $2,509,325,484 |
| NHC | New Hope Corporation | 1.985 | -4.1% | 2,517,246 | $1,722,979,160 |
| APT | Afterpay Limited | 90.83 | -4.1% | 2,199,345 | $27,485,491,408 |
| EDV | Endeavour | 6.63 | -3.4% | 6,900,625 | $12,286,122,917 |
| IFL | Insignia Financial | 3.6 | -3.2% | 2,157,041 | $2,415,486,604 |
| PDL | Pendal Group Ltd | 5.48 | -3.2% | 2,981,867 | $2,165,956,840 |
| LTR | Liontown Resources | 1.575 | -3.1% | 7,837,098 | $3,549,659,189 |
| ERA | Energy Resources | 0.32 | -3.0% | 203,349 | $1,218,156,455 |
| SKC | Skycity Ent Grp Ltd | 2.9 | -3.0% | 709,747 | $2,273,013,575 |
Shares in large cap biotech Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) slumped ~17%, after the company went into a trading halt before advising that Swiss multinational Novartis had terminated the licensing agreement it entered into in November 2020 for the development, manufacture and commercialisation of Mesoblast’s mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product, remestemcel-L.
MSB shares first plunged last December, when it reported setbacks to its clinical trial testing the use of its stem-cell infusion on severely ailing US COVID-19 patients.
Uranium large cap Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) also fell by more than 10% on no news.
And it was another day, another rough session for the ASX’s BNPL cohort. The largest of them — Afterpay (ASX:APT) — fell by more than 3% and is now threatening to dip below $90.
At a shareholder meeting today, proxy votes indicated APT investors were on track to vote overwhelmingly in favour of the company’s all-share takeover by Jack Dorsey-led Square Inc.