The tech sector was the biggest winner on Monday (up 0.8 per cent), following a strong trading day for AI stocks on Wall Street. The rally in local technology stocks was led by giants WiseTech Global (up 1.3 per cent) and Xero (up 1.7 per cent), while TechnologyOne (up 0.2 per cent) also gained.
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Real estate was also a strong mover, buoyed by gains to Goodman Group (up 1.8 per cent), Scentre Group (up 0.6 per cent) and Charter Hall Group (up 0.8 per cent).
The energy sector continued some of its positive momentum from the previous week, with Woodside (up 1.2 per cent) propping up industry gains. Uranium miners Boss Energy and Deep Yellow continued their gains from last week, adding 5.8 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively.
Commonwealth Bank, the largest stock on the ASX, rose by 0.6 per cent. NAB (up 0.8 per cent) and Westpac (up 0.2 per cent) also gained. Macquarie rose (up 0.6 per cent), as did insurers Suncorp (up 0.4 per cent) and QBE (up 0.6 per cent).
Block, the Jack Dorsey-founded financial services firm, rose 5.5 per cent on Monday. Block emerged as one of the major beneficiaries of the Bitcoin price surge that followed Donald Trump’s election victory in November, and is projected to be a major lifter on the local bourse in 2025.
The laggards
Falling iron ore prices steered the mining sector into the red. BHP lost 2 per cent, while Fortescue (down 2 per cent) and Rio Tinto (down 1.7 per cent) also fell.
The Perth-based Bellevue Gold lost 14 per cent on Monday, after telling shareholders it would slash its production targets for the 2024-25 financial year. Fellow gold miners Newmont (down 2 per cent) and Northern Star Resources (down 0.6 per cent) also fell.
The lowdown
EToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said the markets experienced a “holiday hangover” on Monday, noting the flat result and small trading volumes, but added that results from the tech sector indicated a continuing surge from the industry observed in 2024.
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“The tech sector was coming from a tailwind from US stocks – they were winners from last year and investors are seeing value there after a three- or four-day selloff,” Gilbert said.
Concerns about a slowing Chinese economy and a potential trade war between China and the US were among the reasons for a “struggling” materials sector, which Gilbert said would always point to a difficult trading day on the ASX.
Wall Street beat a five-day drop, which shaved more than a trillion dollars off share prices, on Friday. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.7 per cent while the S&P 500 rose 1.3 per cent. The gains put a dent in the week’s selloff after an end-of-December rout had stretched into the first trading day of the year.
In the US markets, the AI theme continues to motivate investors even as they contemplate Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 16 days’ time.
President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House has triggered some caution at the Fed.Credit: AP
“We really need to see more of that clarity on Jan 20 for markets to have greater conviction,” Laura Cooper, global investment strategist at Nuveen, said on Bloomberg Television. “US exceptionalism will continue to be the dominant theme at least in the first half of the year, regardless of what some of those policies that come through are.”
Tweet of the day
Quote of the day
“December 2024 quarter gold production was affected by lower grade as the mine sequence progressed through the outer edges of the orebody moving towards the higher-grade core.”
– An excerpt from Bellevue Gold’s production and guidance update, in which it announced slashed gold production guidance for the 2024-25 financial year, triggering a mass selloff.
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