ASX 200 afternoon report: 9 July 2024

The ASX 200 trades 64 points (0.83%) higher at 7827 at 3:00pm AEST.

Resilience and broad-based gains despite election shifts

After the surprise shift to the left in the second round of the French elections failed to dent confidence on Wall Street, the ASX 200 has erased all of yesterday's losses and more on light school holiday-reduced trading volumes.

Today's gains have been broad-based with all eleven ASX sectors showing positive movement. The most notable story today has been that of Telstra, as the former market darling surged 3.15% to $3.76, reaching its highest level in three months.

Telstra’s rally followed a larger-than-expected increase in mobile phone pricing plans, thought to be around 4-4.8%, which provides another reminder that hot services inflation is yet to be tamed. Further gains towards $4.00 appear likely as the Telco giant benefits from its pricing power operating within a cosy oligopoly framework.

The persistence of stubborn inflation, which heightens the risk of an additional RBA rate hike before year-end, has, as expected, weighed on Consumer Sentiment in July.

ASX 200 stocks

Banking sector

Despite these challenges, the big banks have shown resilience:

• Westpac leading the gains, adding 1.60% to $27.57
• CBA added 1.47% to $128.33, a stone’s throw from last week's $128.68 all-time high
• ANZ gained 1.46% to $29.13
• NAB added 0.85% to $35.62
• Macquarie bucked the trend, falling -0.96% to $202.41

Consumer-facing stocks

• Domino's added 3.44% to $36.07
• Myer gained 3.27% to $0.79
• Harvey Normans added 0.93% to $4.32
• JB Hi-Fi gained 0.4% to $63.30

IT stocks

Riding the tailwinds of the unstoppable rise in the Nasdaq on Wall Street, the ASX 200 IT has gained 0.97% today to 2345.6, closing in on its year-to-date high of 2353.3

• BNPL stock Zip surged 3.44% to $1.80
• Megaport gained 2.51% to $11.45
• Life 360 added 2.18% to $16.40
• Nextdc added 2.04% to $18.51

Mining sector

It was a mixed day for the mining giants as the price of iron ore eased back to $108 per tonne:

• Rio Tinto added 0.81% to $120.86
• BHP gained 0.44% to $43.67
• Mineral Resourced edged 0.23% higher to $56.46
• Fortescue lost -0.23% to $21.77

ASX 200 technical analysis

The ASX 200 has spent the past three months consolidating the rally from the late October 6751 low to the early April 7910.5 high. Provided the ASX 200 remains above support 7680/50 (closing basis), which includes the recent 7654.2 low and uptrend support from the April 7492 low, a positive bias is in place. A sustained break above downtrend resistance at 7880 and then the all-time high at 7910 is needed to indicate the uptrend has resumed towards 8000.

ASX 200 daily chart

• _{Source: TradingView. The figures stated are as of 9 July 2024. 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.}