ASX 200 afternoon report: 22nd of March 2023

The ASX 200 trades 55 points higher (0.79%) at 7010 at 2.30pm.

The Australian stock market is enjoying its best day since Mid-January as fears over banking contagion ease ahead of tomorrow morning’s FOMC meeting.

Reports yesterday that US officials are looking at ways to expand the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation cover to all deposits if needed appears to have extinguished one of the last remaining banking bushfires after Silicon Investment Bank failed some 12 days ago.

Latitude

Consumer lending outfit Latitude Financial, the subject of a recent cyber-attack, plunged to a fresh crisis low of $1.01 after confirming it had found further evidence of “large-scale” data theft. Its share price has since steadied to be trading 6.22% lower at $1.13.

Banking sector

The current canary in the banking coal mine, First Republic Bank, glimpsed freedom as its share price gained 29.47% overnight to $15.77. The relief rally spilled into local banking stocks.

• CBA added 1.66% to $98.15
• NAB added 1.3% to $28.82
• Westpac added 1.28% to $21.70
• ANZ added 1.14% to $23.01.

Crude oil sector

A rebound in the price of crude oil has helped the badly beaten-up energy sector gain after plunging 13% over the past ten trading sessions.

• Beach Energy added 5.81% to $1.37
• Woodside Energy added 5.2% to $32.80
• Strike Energy added 4% to $0.39c
• Santos climbed 3.5% to $7.00.

Consumer-facing stocks

Consumer-facing stocks have gained on hopes that the recent stress in the banking sector has been contained.

• Flight Centre added 3.14% to $18.23
• Aristocrat Leisure added 2.50% to $36.02
• Webjet climbed 2.24% to $6.86
• Myer Holdings fell 9.45% to $0.91c as it traded ex-dividend.

Coal sector

New Hope Coal climbed 5.64% to $5.62, building on a stunning 8.5% gain yesterday after it reported it doubled its 1H23 profit to $668.6m and would pay shareholders $0.40c in dividends.

• Mineral Resources added 2.72% to $79.59
• South32 added 1.84% to $1.16
• Fortescue added 1.13% to $21.00.

Gold sector

Gold stocks have fallen after the bullion price fell 2% overnight to $1941, extending falls from its $2009 blow-off type high from Monday.

• Perseus Mining fell 5.87% to $2.17
• Regis Resources fell 5.97% to $1.77
• Silver Lake Resources fell 5.4% to $1.10
• Gold Road Resources fell 5.2% to $1.56.

ASX 200 technical analysis

Providing the ASX 200 continues to hold above support 6910/00, the pullback from the February 7567 high is viewed as a countertrend (an “ABC” Elliott Wave correction), and we expect a rebound to follow.

Aware that should the ASX 200 see a sustained break below support at 6910/00, it would negate our positive bias and warn of a retest of the bottom of its 12-month range at 6410.

The AUD/USD is trading higher at .6686 ahead of tomorrow morning’s FOMC meeting, which is expected to see the Fed deliver a dovish 25bp rate hike to 4.75%-5% to provide optionality if conditions warrant a change of course.

ASX 200 daily chart

1. TradingView: the figures stated are as of March 22nd, 2023. 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.