China GDP slowing as ASX trades flat

A better-than-expected China GDP report failed to lift the market with the ASX200 ending Tuesday's trading session marginally down 1.90 points to end the day at 7,386.30. Material stocks felt the pinch with BHP (-1.11%), Rio Tinto (-1.23%) and Fortescue (-1.34%) all falling today.

Consumer sentiment data was released today, which showed an increase by 5% in January, the largest monthly gain since April 2021.

It was a split day from a sector standpoint, with six sectors finishing the day higher. Leading the way was the Consumer Staples sector, which rose by 1.81% followed by Real Estate (+1.09%). The Utilities sector fell the most today, dropping by 1.25%.

Imugene and Capricorn Metals had the worst performance among the stocks included in this index, falling 5.88% and 5.63% respectively.

Quick Singles

• Microsoft said that it will soon include OpenAI's popular artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT to its Azure cloud service.

• The JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) share price fell 1.3% to $46.51 following the release of its preliminary first-half earnings today. JB hi-fi reported an overall sales increase of 8.6% to $5.3 billion in the first half of FY23

• Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) share price fell 3% to $7.42 today after announcing that Brookfield Management is currently completing its due diligence for a potential buy-out of Origin.

• BKI Investment Company (ASX:BKI) reported a fall in interim net profit by 34 per cent to $36.8 million. Shares traded flat for most of the day but ended higher by 0.8% to $1.82.

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Top Story

China Growth Slowing

China today reported 3.0 per cent GDP growth for the 2022 calendar year, with growth at 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter. This was a slight beat on economists’ forecasts of 2.8 per cent annual growth and 1.8 per cent growth in the fourth quarter.

This however was Chinas second-lowest annual growth rate in decades as COVID-19 restrictions bought the world’s second-largest economy to a standstill.

China's fourth quarter growth was half the 3.9 per cent recorded in the third quarter last year, with the impact of lockdowns and other restrictions having a negative impact on the economy as the country struggled to restrict the spread of the virus.

The Chinese government have reportedly targeted growth of about 5.5 per cent, with this latest read falling well short of expectations.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell by 1.11% due to several factors, but Shanghai fared much better, falling by only 0.24% possibly due to a rounding error.

Movers and Shakers

✅Biggest Winners

Data3 Limited (ASX: DTL) share price rose 4.3% to $7.00. after a trading update by the information technology solutions provider this morning. The company disclosed that it anticipates a first-half net profit before taxes towards the upper end of its guidance range of $21 million to $25 million.

Leo Lithium Ltd (ASX: LLL) shares increased by over 0.9% to $0.56 after the Lithium developer reported this morning that the mineral resource estimate for the Goulamina Lithium Project in Mali had been increased. Recent drilling activities have increased the mineral resource estimate by 31%, from 108.5 Mt at 1.45% Li2O to 142.3 Mt at 1.38% Li2O, according to the press statement.

❌ Biggest Losers 

Lindian Resources (ASX:LIN) shares fell by 11% to $0.24 after an Assay result update yesterday at the companies' phase 1 drilling program at its rare earths project in Malawai. All holes have broad intersections of non-radioactive material with excellent grade and a large percentage of rare earth elements.

Small-Cap of the Day

Lithium Strike in WA

Corazon Mining's (ASX:CZN) high-grade lithium assay results from spodumene-bearing pegmatite in the Miriam Nickel Sulphide Project in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia caught the attention of investors. This morning, the stock went up 30.0%, but by the end of the day, it had gone down to +25%.

Corazon recently reported the discovery of lithium mineral bearing pegmatite along with the widespread indicators of pegmatite in a field-mapping program undertaken at its project.

Econcomic Calender

Outlook

A busy week both here in Australia and in the US with unemployment data dropping in the back end of the week the biggest news.

19th January

• US Producer Prices YoY - est. 5.6%

• US Retail Sales MoM - est. -0.8%

• AU Employment Rate - est. 22.5k

• AU Unemployment - est. 3.4%

20th January

• US Initial Jobless Claim - est. 212k

• US Building Permits - est. 1.37M

• US Housing Starts Number - est. 1.36M

That's it from the team at ASX-News today. We hope you enjoyed our EOD wrap-up. Good night and happy investing!