Market Update & Important Indicators:
Financial and industrial shares fell while dividend stocks rose, as investors pulled back from some of the most popular post-election trades Tuesday. In recent sessions, investors have sold bond-like stocks such as utilities and snapped up stocks of banks and infrastructure companies, expecting that President-elect Donald Trump would increase fiscal spending, lower corporate taxes and ultimately boost growth and inflation. Financial stocks, which have rallied since Election Day as investors bet on looser regulations and higher interest rates, lost 0.5% in the S&P 500. Investors also shed industrials, which had been lifted by expectations of a ramp-up in infrastructure spending.
European stocks closed with gains, as the energy sector helped lead the way higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.3% at 339.16, with oil and gas stocks putting in a strong performance as West Texas Intermediate prices leapt more than 4% to trade above $45 a barrel. Energy shares and crude got a boost from renewed efforts to shore up a proposed production cut by OPEC. That came after the Stoxx 600 on Monday rose 0.2%, but ended off session highs as oil prices turned sharply lower amid doubts about an output deal being reached this month.
Asian markets showed resilience Tuesday to the emerging-markets selloff that had been hitting global markets, with shares broadly mixed and Asian currencies gaining strength. The Hang Seng Index reversed Monday's steep losses and ended up 0.5% Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed about flat even as the yen gained 0.3% against the dollar. Hong Kong-listed commodities companies were among the worst performers on the Hang Seng Index. This followed a tightening of the rules for trading iron ore and steel rebar futures in China, to cool price gains and rein in rampant speculative trading. Iron ore and steel rebar futures fell by the maximum 6% allowed on Tuesday in Shanghai, and Chinese metals and mining firms dominated losers in Hong Kong trade on the same day. The Hang Seng index tracking stocks in the materials industry led declines among Hang Seng sub-indices, and was last down 1.1%. Korea's Kospi slipped 0.4%, reversing earlier gains, but Singapore's FTSE Strait Times was up 0.5%.
Australian shares fell Tuesday, as investors await public comments by the country's top central banker that could signal the future path of interest rates and reference volatility in global asset prices following Donald Trump's U.S. presidential election win. The S&P/ASX 200 index declined by 0.4% or 19.5 points to 5326.2, ahead of the speech by Reserve Bank of Australia Gov. Philip Lowe at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia's annual dinner in Melbourne. Tuesday, the RBA said a sharp rise in commodity prices has helped the country's growth outlook improve at the end of a long resources boom. The RBA said in notes from its Nov. 1 board meeting that the improvement in the terms of trade, having risen this year for the first time in two and half years, was a marked change from a series of past downward revisions, and implied "a more positive outlook for nominal growth in the Australian economy."
The London Metal Exchange three-month copper contract closed down 0.6% at $5,525/t. Other base metals were mixed overnight. Aluminium prices fell 0.2% to $1,742/t and tin fell 2.4% to $20,420/t. Meanwhile, lead rose 0.7% to $2,197/t, nickel rose 0.3% to $11,250/t, and zinc rose 0.1% to $2,597/t.
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
Orthocell Ltd (OCC), BC Iron Limited (BCI), ALT Resources Ltd (ARS), Gascoyne Resources Ltd (GCY), Dacian Gold (DCN), Orocobre Ltd (ORE), Alchemy Resources Ltd (ALY), Acacia Coal Ltd (AJC), Minotaur Exploration Ltd (MEP), Northern Minerals Ltd (NTU), Walkabout Resources Ltd (WKT), Antipa Minerals Ltd (AZY), Noxopharm Limited (NOX), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT), Emerald Resources NL (EMR), Metals of Africa Ltd (MTA), Stavely Minerals Ltd (SVY), Australis Oil & Gas Ltd (ATS), Davenport Resources Ltd (DAV), TFS Corporation Limited (TFC), Emmerson Resources Ltd (ERM), Syntonic Ltd (SYT), MZI Resources Ltd (MZI), Resolute Mining Ltd (RSG)