ASX 200 afternoon report: July 25, 2023

The ASX200 trades 30 points (0.41%) higher at 7336 at 2.55 pm AEST.

In what was expected to be a dull day ahead of the start of a plethora of highly important macro events tomorrow morning, the promise of further policy support from Chinese authorities has stirred interest in the local market.

As noted in last Thursday's ASX 200 report, there was an expectation ahead of this week's Politburo meeting that more stimulus measures would be announced in China. While the announced measures don't amount to the liquidity taps being opened to full throttle, they will bring more support to consumption and the troubled property sector.

The ASX 200 market movements today

Mining sector

The big mining stocks have been waiting for today's announcement and were quick to react.

• Fortescue: +4.46% to $23.18
• BHP Group: +4.01% to $46.12
• Mineral Resources: +3.92% to $71.00
• Rio Tinto: +3.85% to $119.40 (ahead of HY2023 earnings report).

Crude oil stocks

Overnight, crude oil closed at $78.74, its highest level in three months, supported by Saudi and Russian production cuts and hopes that demand would be boosted by further policy support from China.

• Beach Energy: +1.67% to $1.53
• Woodside Energy: +1.18% to $37.68
• Santos: +0.95% to $7.97
• Coronado Coal: +3.55% to $1.75
• Yancoal: +3.33% to $5.13
• New Hope Coal: +3.33% to $5.55.

Ahead of tomorrow's Australian Q2 2023 inflation report, some nerves are apparent amongst the interest rate sensitive ASX 200 sectors.

Consumer discretionary stocks

• Domino's Pizza fell 516% to $4723 after a downgrade from a US investment bank
• Adair's fell 342% to $155
• Kogan fell 33% to $586
• Myer fell 265% to $064c.

Financial sector

The big banks also slipped, led by Macquarie Bank.

• Macquarie Bank fell 141% to $18101
• Westpac fell 105% to $2173
• ANZ fell 40% to $2503
• CBA fell 32% to $10411.

Tech stocks

Local tech stocks have fallen ahead of earnings reports from tech giants Alphabet and Microsoft tomorrow morning, which will go a long way to determining if AI fever might be breaking.

• EML Payments dived 716% to $079c
• Zero fell 174% to $118671
• Megaport fell 111% to $939
• Computershare fell 072% to $2489.

Technical analysis

The rebound in the ASX 200 following the V-shaped bottom at the 6998 low reached our upside target - range highs 7360/90 area. A sustained break above 7360/90 is needed to open up a test of year-to-date highs at 7567. Until this occurs, allow for another rotation within the range towards the 200-day moving average at 7170.

ASX 200 daily chart

_{TradingView: the figures stated are as of July 25, 2023. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This report does not contain and is not to be taken as containing any financial product advice or financial product recommendation.}