End of Day Report – Wednesday 28 Feb: Lithium on a roll - short squeeze and results

ASX 200 closes flat at 7660 despite better-than-expected CPI numbers. Only monthly though. We flipped between small gains and small losses. Big short squeeze happening in the likes of CHN, PLS, NXT and BRN. Looks like someone wanted their stock back. Banks eased back, with CBA slipping 1.0% lower. MQG down 1.0%, and insurers better. SUN up 0.9%, and QBE pushing 1.1% higher. REITs a little mixed, GMG up 0.2% and SCG up 1.0%. Industrials fell, with WES seeing some profit taking off 1.0%, WOW off 1.7% as it went ex-dividend, COL slid 0.4% and TLS off 1.0% on its ex-dividend. Tech mixed, XRO pushing 4.4% ahead. REH fell 4.4% after a good day yesterday. Resources were strong in places, especially places with big short positions. MIN up 4.8%, PLS up 7.5%, uranium stocks doing well, DYL up 5.6% and PDN up 6.4%. STO better in the oil and gas sector, and WDS unchanged. FMG ex-dividend in the iron ore miners. In corporate news, APM caught an increased bid at 200c, up 13.5%, NEU dropped 10.9% on US sales update from Acadia. LNW +5.9% did just that, and KLS stumbled 12.0% lower on disappointing results. FLT fell 3.9% as TTV were a little light on. On the economic front, monthly CPI came in below forecasts, and RBNZ kept rates unchanged in a small surprise. Asian markets mixed again, with Japan +0.1%, China down 0.7% and HK off 0.3%. 10Y yields steady at 4.18%. Dow Futures down 27 points. NASDAQ Futures down 19 points. 

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