The Wrap: Grocery giants and banks lift ASX

Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day, and how the experts saw it.

The numbers: The ASX 200 lost some of its early gains but still managed to close 0.4 per cent higher at 7,155.2 points with the big four banks, and our supermarket duopoly – Woolworths and Coles – driving the gains.
Consumer staples gained 1.5 per cent with both supermarket operators up nearly 2 per cent. All the major bank stocks were also up at least 1 per cent.

The only sector to record a significant drop were tech stocks, down 3 per cent, following another rough night on Wall St. Miner BHP dropped as much as 10 per cent but, this reflected the fact that its shares were now trading post dividend.

The lifters: Costa Group 8.6%, Nufarm 5.6%, Perseus Mining 4.5%

The laggards: Chalice Mining -6.6%, City Chic -6.1%, Pro Medicus -5.8%

The lowdown: The ASX 200 had all of Monday to digest the implications of messaging app SnapChat’s implosion – which hit Wall St overnight. This meant the subsequent damage was limited to the tech sector, which has now dropped 33 per cent this year. The rest of the market was buoyed by futures showing positive momentum for Wall St this evening and the prospect of global markets making peace with the US rate rises.

“If we are really at that point now where the Fed is delivering on what’s priced in, which is determinant on inflation not surprising further, we think that might start to cool some concerns about this continued repricing higher of Fed rates and of course the impact on growth,” Manpreet Gill of Standard Chartered Private Bank told Bloomberg Television.

Gold stocks were gaining on the back of stronger bullion prices, and also as a flight from inflation concerns.

Analysts like RBC’s Kaan Peker were also seeing further glimmers of hope from China following the announcement of economic stimulus measures late Monday.