ASX200: Company Gross Operating Profits and COVID-19 News to Influence
Economic Calendar
Monday, 29th November
Company Gross Operating Profits (QoQ) (Q3)
Tuesday, 30th November
Building Approvals (MoM) (Oct)
Current Account (Q3)
Private Sector Credit (MoM) (Oct)
Wednesday, 1st December
AIG Manufacturing Index (Nov)
GDP (YoY) (Q3)
GDP (QoQ) (Q3)
Thursday, 2nd December
Trade Balance (Oct)
The ASX200
It was a bearish end to the week for the ASX200 on Friday.
Reversing a 0.11% gain from Thursday, the ASX200 slid by 1.73% to end the day at 7,279.
Upbeat retail sales figures for October failed to provide support, with a flight to safety sinking the index on the day.
News of a new COVID-19 strain and government plans to contain the spread of the more virulent strain led to a broad-based equity market sell-off.
The Stats
In October, retail sales jumped by 4.9% versus a forecasted 2.5% rise, according to prelim figures. Retail sales had risen by 1.3% in September.
According to the ABS,
- Food retailing fell by 0.5%, while household goods retailing increased by 4.5% in the month.
- There were also increases in retailing for:
- Clothing, footwear, & personal accessories (+27.7%).
- Department stores (+22.4%).
- Other retailing (+2.2%).
- Cafes, restaurants, & takeaway food services (+12.3%).
The Market Movers
It was a bearish day for the banks. Macquarie Group led the way down, sliding by 3.22%, with NAB and Westpac seeing heavy losses of 2.37% and 2.54% respectively. CBA and ANZ ended the day down by 1.00% and by 0.73% respectively.
Commodity stocks also took a hit. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd slid by 3.86% to lead the way down, with Rio Tinto and BHP Group ending the day down by 2.25% and by 1.53% respectively. Newcrest Mining bucked the trend, however, rising by 0.83%.
Other Asian Markets
Elsewhere, it was also a bearish session. The Nikkei and the Hang Seng Index slid by 2.53% and by 2.67% respectively, with the CSI300 falling by 0.74%.
The Day Ahead
It’s another relatively quiet day ahead on the Aussie economic calendar. Company gross operating profit figures for the 3rd quarter will be in focus later this morning.
While the figures tend to draw plenty of interest, COVID-19 news will remain the key driver on the day. The markets will be looking for updates on the new strain’s resilience against existing vaccines…
