Home / Daily Market Update / ASX gains 0.8%; Fortescue up 10% as tech stocks dumped

Market rallies on iron ore, Pinnacle’s big deal, Bapcor tanks

Yesterday’s story carried into trading on Tuesday, with the S&P/ASX200 (ASX: XJO) gaining another 0.8 per cent.

It was pushed higher primarily by the more cyclical sectors with both mining and energy gaining more than 2 per cent, with the technology sector falling heavily, down 3.5 per cent, following the lead of the Nasdaq.

It was all about iron ore once again, with the price of future deliveries surging the most allowed by the Chinese market, up 10 per cent, as signs of a release on credit growth and a resumption of steel mill operations buoyed the sector.

The result was a 9.8 per cent gain in Fortescue (ASX: FMG) and 4 per cent for BHP (ASX: BHP). Woodside (ASX: WPL) also gained 3.5 per cent as the agreement with BHP to merge their oil and gas assets became official.

A binding sale agreement was signed by both parties which will take them from being also-rans to among the top 10 oil and gas producers in the world.

The deal is expected to see over US$400 million in synergies and allows BHP to divert to their ‘future focused’ commodities.

Pumping the brakes at Bapcor, private equity beast grows, Kathmandu supply issues

Shares in Bapcor (ASX: BAP) fell by 9.6 per cent after Chief Executive Darryl Abotomey announced the unexpected decision to quit the group, effective February 2022.

The company owns brands including Autobarn and Burson, with the departing CEO confident in the outlook for the next 18 months for now multi billion company.

Boutique investment house Pinnacle (ASX: PNI) which runs a multi-affiliate model taking ownership stakes in multiple fund managers has expanded their presence in the booming private equity market.

The company announced the purchase of a quarter of fast-growing firm Five V Capital, for a total of $75 million, which management set to raise $105 million from shareholders to fund the purchase.

The deal takes assets under management $1.1 billion higher, a drop in the ocean compared to their existing $90 billion under management but in one of the most in-demand sectors in the world.

Kathmandu (ASX: KMD) shares were down over 1 per cent after new CEO Michael Daly highlighted supply chain issues facing their hiking boots and wetsuits businesses, Oboz and Rip Curl.

They flagged a surged in demand for wetsuits, which is exceeding supply from their Vietnam-based production facility.

Tech retreat continues, energy higher, Zoom, Best Buy tank

First, I must highlight a number of factual errors in yesterday’s daily, the final movements in the US share market indices were incorrect, having been taken 1 hour before the close.

The trend remained similar on Tuesday, however, with the Nasdaq continuing to weaken, falling 0.5 per cent after a small increase in bond yields hurt strong valuations.

The Dow Jones outperformed, gaining 0.5 per cent, whilst the S&P500 added 0.2 per cent as both the oil price and economic data provided a mixed outlook.

The US Government plan to release 50 million barrels of oil to ease high fuel costs, however, the sector rose on the news anyway.

Similarly, the manufacturing PMI index moved back above 59 points despite growing supply chain issues.

Speaking of supply chain issues, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) fell by over 12 per cent after reporting just 1.6 per cent same store sales growth across their JB HiFi (ASX: JBH) like network of stores.

Their margin took a slight hit as international sales fell, and management flagged a further weakening in holiday sales.

Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) fell by over 14 per cent as it becomes obvious the difficulties the company will face in a post lockdown world.

Earnings and revenue figures were strong by traders were concerned about a weaker forecast for the fourth quarter.