Market Highlights: Nvidia leads tech rally - again, and the most bought and sold stocks on the ASX?

The ASX is poised to open lower on Tuesday
90pc of analysts recommend buying Nvidia stock
What are the most bought and sold stocks on the ASX?

The ASX is set to open higher this morning as tech stocks, led by Nvidia, lifted Wall Street. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by around +0.2%.

Overnight, the S&P 500 rose by 0.69%, and tech-heavy Nasdaq index climbed 1.56%.

Nvidia soared +8.5% to US$470 after more analysts raised their forecasts on the stock, with the average price target now above US$520, up from US$505 just a week ago.

According to data from Bloomberg, almost 90% of analysts recommend buying the stock.

Zoom Video rallied more than 3% on a bullish forecast, and in what’s set to be this year’s biggest IPO, Softbank’s chipmaker Arm has filed for a Nasdaq listing.

Softbank acquired Arm in 2016 for US$32 billion, and the listing is expected to give Arm a market cap of around US$60 billion.

Meanwhile, the rout in the bonds market continues as 10-year US Treasury yields hit a 16-year high.

This comes ahead of the Fed’s annual gathering at Jackson Hole on August 24-26, with the market anticipating a hawkish tone from chair Jerome Powell.

Back home, earnings season continues, and ASX stocks to release updates include: Coles (ASX:COL), Megaport (ASX:MP1), Woodside (ASX:APL) and Redbubble (ASX:RBL).

Which stocks did Aussie buy and sell the most?

Trading platform AUSIEX says the most bought stocks on its platform over the 10 weeks to 30 July were:

Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX:VAS)
Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN)
Core Lithium (ASX:CXO)
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ)
Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC)
South32 (ASX:S32)
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO)
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES)
Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC)
New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC)

Interest in renewables, in particular battery storage, saw increased interest and trading in explorer and miner Core Lithium, as investors played the renewable energy storage theme.

Core Lithium was bought on optimism about increased demand for batteries, then sold later as the company revealed its volumes in 2025 might be half analysts’ forecasts.

Meanwhile, the most sold stocks during the period included:

CSL (ASX:CSL)
Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM)
Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV)
AGL Energy (ASX:AGL)
Panoramic Resources (ASX:PAN)

“While some resources groups were strongly bought, others were sold, such as the world’s biggest gold miner Newcrest which had previously risen due to a takeover offer from Newmont,” says the note from AUSIEX.

In other markets …

Gold rose by +0.35% overnight to US$1,894.70 an ounce.

Now read: In the world of gold, high grades do glitter brighter

The Aussie dollar still trades close to the US63c handle, now at US64.15c.

Brent crude fell over 2%, trading now at US$83 a barrel.

Iron Ore 62% fe was up by +0.35% to US$106.48/tonne.

Bitcoin was down -0.2% in the last 24 hours to US$26,154.

Crypto analyst Marcel Pechman says that deflation in China would have an adverse impact on Bitcoin as risk appetite evaporates.

“Expect a short to mid-term negative impact on Bitcoin if China’s growth dissipates,” he said.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Shaver Shop (ASX:SSG)
For the full year FY23, Shaver reported record sales of $224.5m, up 0.8% on pcp. Gross margin was a record 44.5%, and NPAT was $16.8m, up 0.8% on pcp. The company said it is not appropriate to provide FY24 sales or profit guidance at this time.

Ecofibre (ASX:EOF)
For the full year FY23, the hemp company’s revenue was up 8% on pcp to $32.5m. Normalised EBITDA was a loss of -$13.2m, an improvement on FY22 loss of -$17.2m. Ecofibre refocused the business and reset its cost base in in the second half, which delivered $11m in annualised cost savings.

Peter Warren Automotive (ASX:PWR)
For the full year, revenue was $2.07bn, up 21.1% on the pcp. NPAT was $56.9m, down -7.8% on the pcp. PWR acknowledged that it’s operating in a challenging industry – with problems such as cost inflation, higher interest rates, and low consumer spending. The company paid total dividend per share of 22c, the same as last year.

International Graphite (ASX:IG6)
Final drill results have topped up a strong 2022-2023 drilling campaign, paving the way for a new Mineral Resource estimate at the Springdale Graphite Project. At Mason Bay, exploration (21 RC holes) standout assays include: 11m @ 11.7% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) from 47m downhole, including 2m @ 21.9% from 53m downhole.

Perenti Global (ASX:PRN)
The mining services company delivered a record full year underlying EBIT(A) of $264.1 million, which was at the top end of its revised FY23 guidance range. Statutory NPAT was $102.6 million, up $60.1 million on FY22. Perenti’s FY24 guidance includes revenue of between $2.8 billion and $3.0 billion, and EBIT(A) of $260 million to $275 million.