End of Day – Thu 28 Jul

•  ASX 200 rose 67 points to 6890 (1%) as buyers flooded back post Fed. Almost like a short squeeze of epic proportions in second line tech. Banks boosted despite falling yields, the Big Bank Basket up to $174.35 (0.7%) with ANZR down 1.8%. CBA the super star up 1%. MQG delivered again up 3.0% for its 53rd yearly consecutive profit. Insurers mixed, QBE up 1.1%, SUN down 0.8% and MFG up 2.4%. Healthcare going nowhere today, CSL down 0.2% and RMD flat. REITS slightly higher, GMG up 1.8%. Industrials better but somewhat anaemic, telcos better on NBN news, tech was the word. The All-Tech Index up 2.3% but hampered by CPU down 3.5%. Second liners took comfort from quarterlies, KGN up 50.2%, PBH up 20.6%, NMT up 13.0%, AD8 up 9.6% on a business update, MP1 soaring another 9.3% and SZL up 44.7%. BNPL is back. At least for now. Massive short squeeze. 
• In resources, RIO was slightly lagging up 0.7% but BHP up 2.1% and FMG firing 2.9% on production numbers and CEO comments. Gold miners doing well, NST up 2.6% EVN up 2.9% and DEG better by 6.1%. Lithium in demand, PLS quarterly cheered up 6.2%, LYC hitting straps again up 2.7% and MIN turning hard by 9.0%. Base metals in demand too IGO up 7.0% and OZL up 7.1%. Oil and gas better, WDS up 1.5% STO up 1.0% with YAL down 10.9% as Glencore sold out. 
• In corporate news, ALX saw the bidder walk away without paying the toll, down 6.1%, KGN went nuts on a ho-hum quarterly update. SYR received a binding US$102m loan from US DoE and rallied 12.8%. In economic news, retail sales rose 0.2% month-on-month. Meanwhile in Asia, Japan up 0.2%, China up 0.5% and HK down 0.4%. 

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