End of Day Report – Friday 20 September: ASX 200 gives up strong gains but still a record

ASX 200 wilted after a great start to close up only 18 points at 8210, unable to hold on to earlier big gains. Triple witching and index rebalancing in US tonight. Banks remained solid with the Big Bank Basket at $249.63 (+0.5%). MQG slid from record highs, and SUN eased 1.3%. REIT's mixed, GMG down 0.6% and SGP up 0.4%. Industrials were mostly firm with WES up 1.5% and retailers doing well, JBH up 1.4% and LOV up 3.2%. Travel and pizza back in fashion (when did they ever go out of fashion?), FLT up 2.2% and DMP up 4.0%. Healthcare in casualty, CSL down 0.3% and SHL continuing to suffer, down 2.2%. Resources promised so much this morning, and yet delivered so little. Iron ore stocks gave up early gains despite futures in Singapore rising, China left rates unchanged which disappointed some. Lithium stocks slipped into depression again, PLS down 3.1% and MIN off 2.9%. Gold miners mixed bag of lollies, NST up 1.3% but NEM off 0.5%. Energy stocks mixed, oils doing ok, WDS up 0.7% but uranium stocks seeing a little fallout after a solid week. In corporate news, MYR lost 0.6% on a trading and strategy update, HVN being sued again, KLS rose 1.5% on a US contract and NAM recommended the Olam Agri bid. LTM looking at exiting Australia! Nothing on the local economic front. BoJ and PBoC kept rates unchanged.  Asian markets mixed again, Japan up 1.0%, HK up 0.9% and China off 0.6%. 10-year yields steady at 3.92%. Dow Futures off 0.1% and NASDAQ Futures down 0.2%. Why not sign up for a free trial? Get access to expert market insights and manage your investments with confidence. Ready to invest in yourself? Join the Marcus Today community.