End of Day Report – Thursday 12 December: ASX down 23 as unemployment falls to 3.9% | VNT and DOW ACCC

Market Updates

ASX 200 falls another 23 points to 8330 (0.3%) after a solid opening was derailed by the 3.9% headline unemployment number. RBA will be back in its box. Banks slid with ANZ still under some pressure, the Big Bank Basket up to $256.62(). Insurers slightly higher as 10-year yields jumped higher to 4.26%. Industrials mixed with retail down, tech up and ‘old skool’ platform stocks easing back, REA down 2.4% and CAR off 1.3%. REITs under some pressure on higher rates. Resources were flat, iron ore miners mixed, lithium stocks tried to rally as PLS CEO bought 500k shares. Gold miners were still in demand, although muted, oil and gas stocks fell slightly, BPT jumped 9.9% on a broker upgrade. Uranium stocks mixed, PDN up 0.7%. In corporate news, SYR was dumped 28.3% on a force majeure in Mozambique, IPH rose 4.0% on buy back initiated. SPK jumped 3.1% on data centre sale news. ORA fell 1.7% as it completed the sale of its US business, and OML fell 3.8% as it outlined cost-cutting plans. VNT and DOW slumped on ACCC allegations of price fixing. In economic news, jobs data was far stronger than the economists had forecast at 3.9% with 36500 new roles created. RBA now back to a serious delay. In Asian markets, a strong day, Japan up 1.0%, China up 0.6% and HK up 1.7%.
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