asx 200

Lesson #1. Gold does well in crises, acting like portfolio insurance Every investor wants an asset that offers downside protection, or insurance of a sort. And preferably one that is not suspiciously complicated or synthetic. Perhaps the major lesson from the coronavirus is that gold can provide this type of insurance, as the yellow metal…

ASX stagnates at 7,000, Tabcorp receives another bid, Bingo deal approved  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) remains stubbornly anchored to the 7,000 point level, falling 0.2% on Tuesday as most sectors were once again hit by the threat of increasing inflation. The materials sector was the biggest positive contributor, with the likes of BHP Group (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) all adding 1%…

Contango Asset Management, the owner of Switzer Asset Management continued on their transition to become a focused marketing and distribution platform as opposed to product manufacturer this week. CEO Marty Switzer announced that the group had replaced its wholly owned subsidiary as the fund manager of the popular Switzer Dividend Growth Fund (ASX: SWTZ). Contango…

Perth in lockdown, ASX flat for the week, retailers smashed  Perth has entered a ‘snap’ three-day lockdown following another hotel quarantine outbreak. Despite this, the market finished slightly ahead on Friday, 0.1%, and finished the week flat. The highlights over the week were Megaport (ASX:MP1) and Monadelphous (ASX:MND), which jumped 10.5% and 8.6% respectively. All attention has been on a number…

AGL CEO had enough, Brambles keeps shipping, markets break losing streak  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) broke a two-day losing streak, shooting 0.8% higher as business conditions and investment intentions hit their highest level in 27 years. The energy and IT sectors were the main laggards, with energy falling 0.6% as India reported the highest number of new cases…

ASX pares losses, defensives in favour again, Nuix downgrades again  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) trimmed losses to just 0.3% despite falling as low as 1.6% during the session. The selling pressure was driven primarily by the energy and property sectors as concerns about spiking global COVID-19 cases impacted confidence. The recently listed Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), a big data and analytics…

Tech sell off weighs on ASX, Challenger downgrades earnings, Latitude finally lists The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) moved further from a record close as a weak global lead and a bevy of early earnings updates sent the market 0.7% lower. The only highlight was the telecommunications sector which added 0.2%, with IT and healthcare falling over 1% each as…

ASX struggles to another record, Sims upgrades guidance, lithium giants to merge The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) struggled to another record close, finishing just three points higher as a sell off in the energy sector, down -1.4%, offset gains in the mining sector, +0.8%. The news of the day was the planned merger between Australia’s pureplay lithium miners, Orocobre (ASX:ORE) and Galaxy (ASX:GXY),…

“There is no alternative” – Margaret Thatcher This saying, shortened to TINA, has been among the most popular coming out of the investment industry over the last 12 months. Despite limited signs of the benefits of loose monetary policy, central banks doubled down in response to the pandemic, anchoring interest rates close to or below…

Rough day but positive finish, tech leads the way, iron ore’s new high, AMP’s new low The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) managed a small gain despite a volatile day on markets, finishing 0.1% higher on Friday taking the weekly gain to 1%. Once again, the tech sector is leading the way, jumping 4.4% over the week as it appears inflation…