End of Day Report – Tuesday 26 Mar: Iron ore falls in Asia, resources follow

Market Updates

ASX 200 fell 32 points to 7780 in quiet trade. Winding down for Easter early it seems. Conflicting consumer sentiment surveys not helpful. Resources once again the problem. Iron ore down in Asian trade hurting commodity stocks across the board. After a steady start, lithium in China slid and iron ore under pressure. FMG dropped 1.2%, BHP off 0.6% and lithium stocks under serious pressure again. PLS down 3.6% and MIN dropping 2.8%. Gold stocks were a small voice of calm, NST up 1.6% and EVN up 0.6%, Oil and gas also doing ok finally, WDS completed the sale of part of a gas project rising 1.0%. Coal stocks flat, uranium stocks falling hard too. Banks falling slightly, the Big Bank Basket falling to $208.36 (-0.3%). Tech slipped, XRO down 2.7% and WTC off 2.3%. Healthcare fell too, CSL down 0.4% and RMD off 1.1%. In corporate news, MSB surprised with some rare good news from the FDA rising 45.5% on a serious short squeeze, SVW pushed back on the BLD independent valuation, PMV rose 4.4% as Lew talked about demerging Smiggle and Peter Alexander. On the economic front, consumer surveys from ANZ and WBC showed divergence. Asian markets pretty flat on low commitment days. 10-year yields pushed back up to 4.04%.
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