End of Day – Fri 25 Feb

•  The ASX 200 rallied 7 points to 6998. Quiet, too quiet. After the big falls yesterday, investors and traders were reluctant to chase the market higher ahead of a weekend. A good bounce from technology stocks predicated on a Nasdaq bounce but also a big after-hours jump in Block (SQ2) rising 32.5%. SQ2 is 5.9% of the All-Tech Index. CPU is the biggest holding at nearly 13%. CPU rose 1.5%. Results and Russia remain the focus. Industrials were mixed as REITs rose slightly, GMG up 2.4% and CHC up 3.7%. WES rose 0.3% and ALL up 1.9% with TLS off 0.3% and BXB slipping 0.8% on pallet hoarding and rising costs of timber. Banks eased as bond yields steady at 2.23%, the Big Bank Basket fell to $ 171.72 (-1.5%). MFG revealed another blow to FUM and fell 10.1%, MQG bounced slightly up 1.5% and insurers flat. Miners were easier, BHP down 0.2% and RIO down 0.7%. FMG bucked the downdraft rising 0.3%. Gold miners and energy stocks fell away as the spike in underlying assets pulled back. Lithium stocks better, AKE up 5.2% and PLS up 4.6% with LYC reporting record numbers rising 6.9%. Healthcare eased with CSL down 1.3%. 
• In company news, ALG rallied 17.2% on its results, CCX saw a 12.9% bounce after a shocker yesterday on numbers, BWX fell 26.4% as it swung to a loss and KGN suffered a similar sell-off on its numbers, down 6.2%. PNV reported and dropped 3.3% with TNT up 15.4% on an investor update. 
• Nothing on the economic front. Asian markets were slightly better. Dow futures eased sapping some early strength. 

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