ASX Continues a Strong Week

Thursday was another great day for the ASX200 as the index finished up by 85.10 points, or 1.18%, to reach a new 20-day high of 7,280.40.

Every sector finished the day up today, with the Financial sector gaining 1.46 per cent leading the way, followed by the Materials and Energy sector closely behind.

Pilbara Minerals and Liontown Resources saw their share prices rise by 4.33% and 4.52% respectively, making them the best-performing companies in this index.

Economic News

In November 2022, Australia's trade surplus increased to 13.20 billion from 12.74 billion in October, exceeding market expectations of a 10.5 billion surplus.

Quick Singles

• In Crypto new, FTX Group advisers have found more than $US5 billion ($7.2 billion) in cash or crypto assets that it may be able to sell to help repay creditors.

• The Perpetual Ltd (ASX: PPT) share price rose 1.7% to $25.26 on news that Pendal Group's (ASX:PDL) acquisition scheme of arrangement becomes legally effective.

• The price of Copper is back to a six-month high with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) (+1.4%), Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR) (+1.2%), and Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) (+5.1%).

Not subscribed? Sign-up below to receive all the ASX news straight to your inbox

Top Story

Aussie Trade Surplus

The market projections called for a surplus of 10.5 billion Australian dollars, while Australia's trade surplus in November 2022 was 13.20 billion Australian dollars, a rise from October's surplus of 12.74 billion Australian dollars. Because of strong inflation and vigorous monetary tightening by major economies, exports declined less than imports, resulting in the highest trade surplus since June. This was due to the fact that exports dropped less than imports.

The value of exports declined by 0.4% from the previous month to a three-month low of AUD 59.35 billion, while the value of imports fell even more quickly by 1.5% to a five-month low of AUD 46.15 billion. The increase in the trade surplus from the same time period in 2021 to the first eleven months of this year was 111.41 billion Australian dollars, which increased to 127.36 billion Australian dollars. For the past four and a half years and a month, Australia has produced monthly trade windfalls, driven by booming sales of iron ore and natural gas.

Movers and Shakers

✅Biggest Winners

Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI) share price was up 10% to $0.55. This performance management solutions firm issued a trading update this morning. Integrated Research anticipates a half-year EBITDA in the range of $7.8 million to $8.2 million. This will represent a 15% to 30% rise over the previous time.

Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX) share price was up 9.1% to $1.14. This gold miner issued an update on its second-quarter performance this morning. Westgold produced a record 110,606 tonnes at 3.47g/t Au. This is an increase over the previous quarter's record of 90,588t at 3.2g/t Au. In addition, the corporation announced "excellent" drilling findings.

❌ Biggest Losers 

MA Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MAF) share price was down over 10.7% to $4.42. This occurred after the publication of a profit update. The company, formerly known as Moelis, expects underlying earnings per share to increase by 28% to 30% in fiscal year 2022. While this is impressive, it falls short of the original growth forecast of 30% to 40%. This was attributed by management to delays in the completion of various business advisory transactions.

Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) share price was down nearly 3% to $1.79. This follows this morning's announcement of the gold miner's output update. Gold Road disclosed that its Gruyere operation produced 314,647 ounces annually. This indicates that the company's annual guidance range of 300,000 to 340,000 ounces was not met.

Small-Cap of the Day

Bali Copper Strike

After announcing the findings of its initial 33-hole drilling campaign at its Bali copper property, Norwest Minerals (ASX:NWM) has taken off like a rocket, rising more than 60%. "The RC drilling targeted four priority prospects, and many of the holes returned wide copper intercepts grading 0.2% with 16 individual meters assaying 3% copper and the highest being 11.2% Copper,"

Econcomic Calender

Outlook

Trade and Retail data in Australia is the biggest news for this week while the world will be watching the US CPI read on Friday

13th January

• US CPI YoY - est. 6.5%

• US Initial Jobless Claims - est. 220k

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