End of Day Report – Thursday 28 Mar: Record close in time for Easter

ASX 200 finds the Easter Bunny. Up a huge 77 points at 7897 (+1.0%) hitting a record high. Seems appropriate. The end of the quarter and end of the month helped stimulate optimism. Banks took a breather with the Big Bank Basket up slightly to $210.48 (0.3%). MQG rose 0.9% with insurers mixed, REITs once again in demand. When aren’t they. GMG up another 1.9% with SGP rising 1.9%. TGP was a stand out on the sale of its HPI stake, up 17.8%. Industrials shot out of the box, WOW continuing its rally up 0.5% with TLS up 2.1% and WES up 1.2%. Utilities also finding friends, ORG up 1.3%. Retail sales helped the sector getting a boost from the Swift effect. JBH up 0.6%, SUL up 3.2% and BAP up 3.6%. Resources were the stars today, iron ore miners lifting, BHP up 1.4%, RIO up 0.7% and FMG rising 2.0%. Lithium stocks also in favour as auctions from Albemarle and SQM helping sentiment. PLS up 2.1% and LTR up 2.6%. Gold stocks enjoyed another solid day with NST up 1.7% and NEM rising 3.3%. Oil and gas stocks slightly better with old king coal stocks having a strong day, WHC up 5.3%. In corporate news, REA has ditched its deal to buy Dynamic Methods on ACCC concerns.  BPT rose 3.7% after announcing savage job cuts. RMS has abandoned its potential takeover bid for Canadian miner Karora. On the economic front, Retail sales were slightly worse than expected despite a Swiftie bounce. Maybe brings rate cuts closer. Asian markets mixed, Japan down 1.3%, China up 1.1% and HK up 1.6%. 10-year yields fell to 3.96%.

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