ASX 200 afternoon report: 6 February 2025

The ASX 200 trades 95 points (1.13%) higher at 8512 points as of 3.00pm AEDT.

ASX 200 rebounds on global market optimism

Today, the ASX 200 rebounded above 8500, buoyed by gains on Wall Street, strong corporate earnings, and after Chinese authorities set the yuan’s fixing rate at 7.1691, the strongest since 8 November.

Impact of US tariffs on Chinese currency and markets

The stronger US dollar/Chinese yuan (USD/CNY) fix aligns with China’s restrained response to United States (US) tariffs this week. This can be interpreted as an indication that China is willing to accept a 10% tariff rate to delay and avoid more severe tariffs of 40-60%, which could harm its already fragile economy.

News Corp delivers strong earnings performance

Media giant News Corp, whose share price surged over 30% last year, gained 6.15% today to $56.48 after its second-quarter earnings report beat expectations.

The company reported revenues of $2.24 billion in the second quarter, up 5% from the same period a year earlier. The drivers of growth were digital real estate, book publishing, and Dow Jones, with digital circulation revenue in the latter growing at its fastest pace in two years.

ASX 200 stocks

Mining sector

The big four iron miners are all on track for a third consecutive day of gains.

• Mineral Resources climbed 2.35% to $35.30
• Fortescue added 1.55% to $19.29
• Rio Tinto increased by 0.56% to $119.84
• BHP edged 0.1% higher to $40.17

Financial sector

The ASX 200 financial sector snapped a three-day losing streak, rallying 1.60% towards record highs.

• Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) added 2.22% to $30.84
• National Australia Bank (NAB) gained 2.16% to $40.24
• Westpac climbed 1.83% to $33.89
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) rose 1.81% to $161.44

Consumer discretionary sector

Following a brief 3.2% pullback this week from record highs, buyers have returned to boost the ASX 200 consumer discretionary sector.

• Adairs gained 2.65% to $2.71
• Harvey Norman added 1.53% to $5.30
• Aristocrat Leisure rallied 1.32% to $74.59
• Premier Investments climbed 1.24% to $24.56

Energy sector

Last year’s biggest sector loser by a significant margin was the ASX 200 energy sector, which finished more than 18% lower. To reverse that performance in 2025, the sector will need to perform better than today.

• Beach Energy lost 3.63% to $1.43, despite reporting a 20% surge in earnings in the first half of 2025. The disappointment came after the company declared a $0.02 dividend instead of the anticipated $0.03.
• Ampol fell 1.81% to $28.14
• Santos lost 0.56% to $7.03
• Woodside Energy edged down 0.26% to $24.72

ASX 200 technical analysis

Our technical view remains unchanged. The ASX 200 has been trading higher within a bullish trend channel for over 12 months.

After rebounding from the lower bound of the trend channel in late December, the ASX 200 last week traded towards the top of the trend channel now at 8650. Providing the ASX 200 holds above support at 8380 - 8360 (closing basis), the uptrend remains in place, and the ASX 200 can continue higher towards 8660.

ASX 200 daily chart

• _{Source: TradingView. The figures stated are as of 6 February 2025. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This report does not contain and is not to be taken as containing any financial product advice or financial product recommendation.}