Record-Breaking Day: ASX Soars, Led by Financial Sector Surge

Good Evening,

Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Recap. 

Another day, another record! The good times keep rolling in equity markets as the ASX 200 index crossed the 7,800 mark, ending Friday's session on a positive note, up 1.07% to 83.3 pts. to 7,847.0, with the big four banks + Macquarie the big movers.

It was almost a clean sweep on the sector boards, with Industrials (-0.02%) the only sector to end in the red. There were winners aplenty on the other side of the ledger, with Financials (+2.03%), Health Care (+1.25%) and Staples (+1.21%) leading the pack. The baking sector was the place to be today; Commonwealth Bank (+1.8%) hit an all-time high share price of $121.45, while National Australia Bank (+2.3%) closed at prices not seen since pre-GFC ($35.11). ANZ (+1.74%), Macquarie (+2.01%) and Westpac (+2.59%) also finished the day higher.

Virgin Money Co. (+32.90%) was the big story today, surging higher after it received a $5.7 billion takeover offer from Brisiths financial institution Nationwide Building Society. Magmatic Resources (+37.78%) was another big mover after Fortescue Metals took up a 19.9% stake in the copper and gold explorer.

Wall Street

U.S. stocks charged higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 (+1.03%) closing at a new record high, while the NASDAQ (+1.51%) gained further ground with a boost from growth stocks and the technology sector. Chip companies remain the centre of investor optimism, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor (+3.36%) index outperforming the broader market.

Novo Nordisk's (+8.33%) stock hit a new record high after the company reported positive Phase 1 trial results for its new experimental weight loss drug, amycretin. Kroger Co. (+9.80%) stock rallied after the grocer forecast annual sales and profit above analyst estimates as it bet on higher demand for groceries at its stores. Kroger reported better-than-anticipated earnings in the fourth quarter, with adjusted earnings of $1.34 per share, beating estimates of $1.13 per share. Intimate appeal retailer Victoria’s Secret (-29.70%) stock plunged after providing weaker-than-expected earnings guidance. The company said it sees fiscal year 2024 net sales of about $6 billion, falling short of the $6.19 billion figure expected by Wall Street.

Economic Data

• The European Central Bank maintained its interest rates at historically high levels of 4.50% during its March meeting.

• Japenese Household spending fell by 6.3% Year over Year on January 24, worse than market expectations of a 4.3% drop after a 2.5% decline in the prior month.

• South Korea recorded a current account surplus of $3.05 billion in January 2024, following a surplus of $7.41 billion the previous month. This marks the eighth consecutive month of surplus, which was primarily driven by an increase in exports.

Sponsor

Visual-based newsletter on business and tech

We explain the latest business, finance, and tech news with visuals and data.📊

All in one free newsletter that takes < 5 minutes to read. 🗞

Save time and become more informed today.👇

Subscribe with one click today

Quick Singles

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Virgin Australia has revealed plans to become the first airline in Australia to allow passengers to bring their pets onboard. Subject to regulatory approval, the airline intends to permit small cats and dogs on some domestic flights within the next 12 months.

• According to an open letter penned by Open AI senior executives, Elon Musk wanted to merge Tesla with Open AI. This was supposedly to give the AI company enough funds to further its vision of creating "artificial general intelligence.

• LinkedIn was back online Wednesday after users reported outages on the professional networking site, which lasted about an hour.

• According to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, Apple has rejected Epic Games' application for a developer account to launch an app store for iPhones in Europe, a move Epic is calling a serious violation of the EU's Digital Markets Act. Epic claims that Apple is retaliating against it for speaking out.

• Britain is planning on implementing an extra tax on vaping products from October 2026 to make the habit more expensive and deter non-smokers from taking it up.

• Two Nvidia directors sold around $180 million in stock this week - a month after other directors sold around $80 million.

• Spain has become the first country to block Worldcoin, which offers its cryptocurrency only to people who consent to eyeball scans. Spain’s data protection regulator isn’t on board with its potential to collect minors’ data.

• Former Google software engineer Linwei Ding has been accused of stealing trade secrets related to artificial intelligence (AI) from Google. He was secretly working for two Chinese companies when he allegedly stole over 500 confidential files containing information about Google's supercomputing data centre infrastructure. If found guilty, Linwei Ding faces up to 10 years in prison.

   

Markets

ASX Company Movers

Commodity Prices

Bonds

Forex

Global Health Check

Partners

Your Investing Essentials

Become a more informed and better investor with the best research tools from our trusted partners.

Help support the Equity Espresso newsletter by signing up using the links below:

Trading View: The best charting platform money can buy. Used by over 50 million traders and investors around the world. Signup here

Koyfin: Our platform provides comprehensive investment research on various asset classes, such as equities, fixed income, funds, ETFs, and foreign exchange. Signup here

Tikr: A software analytics platform used to track stocks. Tikr aggregates the best investment resources into one comprehensive platform for a fraction of the price. Signup here

FinTip: An education and content-based app. that includes a competition-based game designed to engage, help and educate to make better investment decisions. Download here

Moomoo: Get a kick start on your trading journey with ten free stocks and a generous interest rate on uninvested cash. Signup here

A Little Extra

📉 Going Down?

Top-10 shorted stocks on the ASX - as of March 4

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

What are the insiders doing? (On-market trade only)

DISCLAIMER: Please note that the information provided in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. It is not intended to encourage you to buy/sell assets or make financial decisions. We strongly recommend conducting your own research before making any investment decisions.