Based on a recent analysis by Noelle O’Connor, a senior account manager at Equithy, the ASX was higher at the end of trading hours on July 19. The All Ordinaries index, which is represented by XAO, rose by 0.6 percent. Among the numerous shares, banks led the way as they rose by about 2 percent.
Finance Shares Show Impressive Growth
This includes the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and the Australia New Zealand banking group (ANZ). This was followed by energy shares like Santos, which increased by 1.6 percent, and Woodside, which grew by 1.4 percent. However, it looks like the shares of materials companies are going down as well, considering how mining group Rio Tinto went down by 0.7 percent to $116.01.
Oil Prices Go Up As Lithium Remains Steady
Noelle O’Connor from Equithy evaluates that this is due to the overnight increase in oil prices. In commodities, oil went up by 1.7 percent, which could be due to Russia cutting down on production as a way to increase the price. In precious metals, the price of gold increased by 1 percent, while Iron ore only grew by about 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, lithium’s current price has remained steady for the last two months at about US$42,650. This has allowed it to somewhat recover after the significant decrease that took place at the start of the year.
At US$42,650, the lithium price is much higher than what China was paying around three years ago. Considering how the average price of production is less than US$10,000 per ton, there’s a massive profit margin of about 75 percent. Thus, it’s expected that the supply will almost double within the next seven years. But despite Australia being the biggest producer, production in countries like Canada, Chile, Argentina, and Congo is set to increase further until 2030.
In foreign exchange, the AUD fell below 67.8 US cents but went up by 52.4 British pence and 108.7 NZ cents. As for Euro cents and Japanese yen, the price has remained steady.
Imugene Share Price Goes Up By Almost 13%
In the stock market, IMUGENE and BRAINCHIP HOLDINGS were the top-performing stocks on the ASX200, going up by almost 13 percent and 6.76 percent. This comes after an announcement that Imugene, a cancer immuno-oncology company, was awarded a patent in the US. Coronado also performed well, going up by 5.50 percent.
The lowest performance among the ASX200 stocks was recorded by SANDFIRE RESOURCES and NORTHERN STAR, which went down by 3.39 and 5.43 percent. The reason behind this decrease is that Northern Star released less-than-anticipated profit forecasts for the upcoming financial year.
To conclude the analysis by Equithy’s Noelle O’Connor, the Australian share market reached its highest level in about 20 days. Much of the boost comes from the financial, real estate, and energy sectors. At the closing bell, the ASX200 closed at 7320.70, which marks an increase of 29.90 points, or 0.55 percent. In just the last five days, the ASX has gone up by 2.63 percent. Even today, the market got an impressive start, growing by 24 points in the first hour.
