End of Day Report – Wednesday 21 August: Resource rally turns index around | WTC up 18%

ASX 200 fought back from early losses to close up 13 points at 8011. Positive results and outlooks driving buyers. Pretty good considering CBA was ex-dividend today 250c. The Big Bank Basket lost 1.5% to $233.10. MQG unchanged, and insurers and other financials weaker. QBE down 1.6%. REITs mixed, GMG down 3.6% and GPT up 1.5%. Tech stocks boosted by a cracking WTC result, up 18.4%, and the All-Tech Index up 2.45%. Industrials mixed with results the focus. Travel stocks fell as CTD disappointed off by only 1.9% in the end, WEB down 1.1%, and ARB saw some profit taking off 1.7%. Resources were the place to be. Iron ore rallied over 3% in Singapore after all the negativity yesterday, BHP up 1.6% and FMG bouncing 4.1%. Lithium too, back in demand, PLS up 3.5% and MIN bouncing 5.2%. LYC saw a big bump higher and antimony stock LRV jumped another 24.5% as critical metals seem back in demand. Gold miners also doing well, NST up 2.3% and EVN up 1.6% with oil and gas under pressure. STO results were sub-optimal. Down 4.4% and WDS down 0.8% despite M&A rumours. Uranium going nowhere, coal also in strife. WHC off 2.2%, and YAL down 4.0%. In corporate news, another big dump of data, some good, WTC +17.9%, some bad, STO, and some ugly, ATG down 11.4%. DMP out today too and bounced off lows, BRG surged 4.7% on itsbetter than expected numbers, CHC stunned with another cracker up 15.8%. Nothing on the economic front locally. Asian markets weaker, with Japan down 0.2%, HK off 1.1% and China down 0.4%. Dow and NASDAQ Futures up 0.1%.

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