ASX 200 raced ahead by 72 points to 7034 (1.1%) as the Albemarle bid for LTR turbo charged the resources sector and lit the blue touch paper under the bombed out lithium stocks. LTR up 68.5%, CXO up 15.4% and PLS up 11.9%. Huge short squeeze across the board. A bid too in UMG up 30.81% did not hurt the positive sentiment that spilled into resources as a whole. BHP rose 2.0% with FMG up 1.2%. Base metals also doing well with CHN a star on reserve increase, up 8.9%. MIN up 6.0% and LYC catching my disease up 2.8%. Gold miners in a funk as profit taking took hold. NCM down 0.6%, NST down 0.8% and KCN falling 25.4% as it raised some money. Didn’t waste much time after production began at Chatree. Oil and gas better led by WDS up 4.8% and WHC up 6.1% with NHC up 4.2% Banks better. The Big Bank Basket up to $167.89 (1.0%) breathing a sigh of relief that things are settling down in the financial world. MQG rallied 2.0% and insurers and wealth managers better too. QBE up 1.0% and MFG up 3.7%. Industrials were firm. Nothing massively inspiring. Spots of red in some sectors, XRO down 2.9% and the All-Tech Index up 0.5%. Healthcare mixed, REITs better again, CHC up 2.8% and GMG up 0.4%. In corporate news, LTR was the talk of the town, UMG saw froth as it was bid for too. CHN up on a reserve upgrade and MP1 better as a new CEO has been announced, up 4.0%. ORG bid was finalised at around 891c depending on the USD. Few more hurdles with FIRB etc. On the economic front, retail trade better than expected. Something that Solly was telling us yesterday. Asian markets mixed, Japan down 0.2%, HK up 0.7% and China off 0.2%. 10-year yields back up to 3.29%.
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