Marcus Today End of Day Podcast – Tuesday 13th December

 ASX 200 closed modestly, up 23 points to 7203 (0.3%) higher as banks rallied post the BEN results and Resources fell as UBS downgraded BHP and others. Cautious trade ahead of US CPI and FOMC. BHP sank 1.5% on the downgrade after a great run, RIO succumbed too with FMG off 4.2%. MIN collapsed 3.8% with lithium and base metal stocks also under pressure. LTR down 2.6%, NIC off 2.5% and SFR falling 4.1%. Gold miners eased with EVN down 1.4% and DEG off 1.2%. Energy stocks mixed, WDS up 0.1% but ORG regained some poise after the big fall yesterday. Banks were the standout today after BEN results cheered on NIM, the regional bank up % with CBA up 1.0% and NAB racing 2.0% ahead with the Big Bank Basket up to $184.99 (). Insurers also in demand, QBE doing well up 0.8% and SUN up 1.7% on the timetable for the SUN transaction. MQG managed a 0.8% gain. Industrials were firm across the board, TCL up 1.5%, ALL up 0.2% and TPG up 1.4%. Tech better following Nasdaq higher, WTC up 2.0% and XRO up 3.3%. The All-Tech Index rising 1.2%. In corporate news, MCR fell 4.4% after returning from a capital raise. CHN fell 8.1% on disappointment on the timing of the scoping study being pushed out. ZIP made a small capital call too falling %, BEN woke up the bank sector ahead of AGM with better NIM and rose 6.9%. On the economic front, consumer sentiment recovered a little and trade data out. China still our #1 trading partner. Asian market subdued, HK up 0.6%, China down 0.3% with Japan up 0.3%. 10-year yields tickling back up to 3.39%.

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