Pre-Open Data
Key Data for the Week
- Wednesday – AUS – Building Permits rose 22.0% in February.
- Wednesday – UK – Gross Domestic Product was revised to 1.3% for Q4, from the previously estimated 1.0%.
- Thursday – US – Retail Sales
- Thursday – US – Initial Jobless Claims
Australian Market
The Australian sharemarket rose 0.8% yesterday, with all sectors showing gains. The Industrials sector was by far the standout, closing 2.2% higher. This was led by Atlas Arteria and Sydney Airport, who added 5.7% and 3.9% respectively.
The Health Care sector also enjoyed advances; Ramsay Health Care led the gains, up 1.5%, Cochlear rose 1.0% and CSL added 0.8% to regain losses from earlier in the month.
Infant formula company a2 Milk bucked its downward trend and was able to lift for the first time in 12 consecutive sessions. The company’s latest report shows some signs of recovery following a turmoil few months with the impact of COVID-19 and the ongoing Chinese trade war, which has had a large impact on their business.
Property stocks also added gains yesterday; Charter Hall Retail outperformed, finishing 2.7% higher and Stockland rose 2.3%, while Dexus, GPT Group and Aventus Group all added gains of over 1.0%.
The major miners were mixed; BHP gained 0.9% and Rio Tinto climbed 1.1%, while Fortescue Metals slipped 0.6%. The price of gold fell to its lowest level in three weeks, which corresponded to goldminers Northern Star and Evolution Mining falling 2.8% and 2.4% respectively.
The Australian futures market points to a 0.28% gain today, driven by stronger overseas markets.
Overseas Markets
European sharemarkets were relatively steady on Wednesday, trading just below all time highs. The broad based STOXX Europe 600 closed 0.1% higher to end the first quarter of 2021 with an 8.1% gain. The highly anticipated IPO of London based food delivery company, Deliveroo, disappointed investors as it slumped as much as 30% to open well below the price of its public offering.
US sharemarkets closed stronger overnight, led by gains in the Information Technology sector. The stocks that had encountered weakness over the past month all rebounded on the back of President Joe Biden’s US$2.25 trillion Infrastructure Plan, which he outlined yesterday. The transportation infrastructure and electric vehicle industries are proposed to receive US$621 billion. This news was enjoyed by ChargePoint investors as it added 18.8%. There were also gains in Spotify (4.0%), PayPal (2.7%), Apple (1.9%) and Microsoft (1.7%), with the Infrastructure Plan set to support a strong economic rebound for all sectors in the near future.
By the close of trade, the Dow Jones lost 0.3%, the S&P 500 added 0.4% and the NASDAQ gained 1.5%.
CNIS Perspective
The residential property market has been capturing all the headlines of late as housing prices continue to rise.
Confirmation of this activity came by way of yesterday’s credit market data, which showed housing credit continues to pick up since late 2020. The annual pace in credit growth for housing is now 3.8%, which is the strongest pace since April 2019.
Thankfully, this was the case because private credit and business credit growth are lacklustre at best. Over the year business credit declined 0.2%, which is the lowest annual growth since August 2011.
The gradual reopening of the economy, alongside the global rollout of vaccines, will provide consumers and businesses with more certainty over the economic outlook.
In turn, this should improve the demand for new loans.
Should you wish to discuss this or any other investment related matter, please contact your Investment Services Team on (02) 4928 8500.
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