ASX Large Caps: Shares down as jobless rate ticks higher; AMP crashes 15pc while Graincorp gains

ASX fell despite gains on Wall Street overnight
Aussie unemployment ticked up to 3.7% from 3.6% last month
Graincorp was best stock, AMP was worst

The ASX fell -0.75% on Thursday despite gains on Wall Street overnight where stocks closed modestly higher.

Local traders weighed the latest Aussie jobless data today, which shows unemployment rate ticking up to 3.7% in October from 3.6% in September.

According to the ABS, the number of people in employment increased last month by 55,000, and the number of officially unemployed rose by 27,900.

Josh Gilbert, Market Analyst at eToro, said this unemployment reading won’t be what Michele Bullock wanted to see, and shows the RBA will have to continue navigating difficult economic conditions.

“Although this reading doesn’t tip the dial towards an additional rate hike before Christmas, it does mean that the RBA will remain hawkish into next year,” said Gilbert.

Aussie bond yields fell after the release, paring earlier advances.

On the ASX, Utilities and Staples sectors led, while Real Estate and Energy lagged. Stocks across the Energy sector tumbled as crude prices plunged by over 2% overnight amid global demand worries.

Amongst large cap winners today were A2 Milk (ASX:A2M), which rose almost 5% after holding its AGM this morning.

Top of the losers’ list meanwhile was Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL), which slipped -4%, also after holding its AGM.

Across the region, Asian stocks were slightly higher as Wall Street’s VIX index, which measures the market’t fear factor, sat near a two-month low of 14.18.

Later tonight in the US, the weekly new unemployment claims data are due.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap CMW Cromwell Prop 0.42 4.32 2,976,327 $1,060,641,013 TUA Tuas Limited 2.28 4.11 103,903 $1,018,262,227 LLC Lendlease Group 6.74 3.46 2,499,706 $4,489,505,928 IRE IRESS Limited 5.78 3.13 1,558,754 $1,046,021,054 AD8 Audinate Group Ltd 14.56 2.90 212,559 $1,175,990,029 IPH IPH Limited 6.92 2.67 628,387 $1,617,747,188 ZIM Zimplats Holding Ltd 20.82 2.56 8,524 $2,185,044,275 GNC GrainCorp Limited 7.61 2.49 1,377,854 $1,664,580,518 SDR Siteminder 4.98 2.47 862,703 $1,336,821,275 ALL Aristocrat Leisure 40.30 2.08 985,363 $25,605,152,432 ORG Origin Energy 8.73 1.87 9,670,670 $14,763,947,540 RMD ResMed Inc. 23.34 1.79 1,490,159 $12,985,082,439 NEU Neuren Pharmaceut. 15.04 1.76 655,198 $1,870,640,691

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Graincorp (ASX:GNC) rose 3% despite announcing that NPAT for the full year FY23 fell from $380 million in the pcp to $250 million.

Despite this decline, GrainCorp will maintain its annual dividend to shareholders at 54 cents per share. The company also announced that it will pay a special dividend of 16c and buy back $50m of shares. During the year, GrainCorp said it handled 37.4 million tonnes and exported 8.3 million tonnes of grains.

Diversified investment company Seven Group (ASX:SVW) was up 1.5% after saying that its Group level guidance for FY24 has increased from high single-digit EBIT growth, to “high single to low teen EBIT growth in FY24”.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap AMP AMP Limited 0.85 -16.01 65,958,712 $2,792,046,603 360 Life360 Inc. 8.33 -6.19 749,551 $1,799,694,291 OCL Objective Corp 11.31 -5.75 595,928 $1,142,463,792 BOE Boss Energy Ltd 4.10 -5.65 2,712,158 $1,531,731,668 PRN Perenti Limited 0.99 -5.26 3,914,005 $1,003,239,819 EVN Evolution Mining Ltd 3.60 -4.89 4,912,575 $6,944,555,021 AWC Alumina Limited 0.73 -4.87 8,015,355 $2,234,294,691 GOR Gold Road Res Ltd 1.79 -4.29 1,542,713 $2,013,496,369 BPT Beach Energy Limited 1.52 -4.26 2,684,454 $3,615,913,845 NST Northern Star 11.32 -4.19 2,252,186 $13,572,301,380 IGO IGO Limited 8.87 -4.11 1,977,661 $7,004,727,270 RMS Ramelius Resources 1.54 -4.05 2,101,827 $1,823,518,535 RRL Regis Resources 1.74 -4.01 2,165,868 $1,367,163,242 SHL Sonic Healthcare 29.28 -4.00 1,469,513 $14,478,261,886 MGH Maas Group Holdings 3.44 -3.91 137,898 $1,180,488,450 IFT Infratil Limited 9.42 -3.78 92,715 $8,144,202,973 DEG De Grey Mining 1.19 -3.64 1,542,687 $2,221,882,786 PXA Pexagroup 11.33 -3.57 141,387 $2,083,869,233

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Investors dumped AMP (ASX:AMP) after the company cut its margin forecasts and said it would spend $60m on a new digital bank for small businesses.

AMP says net interest margin (NIM) will continue to be under pressure in FY24. Separately, AMP said it will work with UK’s Engine by Starling to launch a digital bank division built specifically for the transaction needs of sole traders and small businesses.

Lithium stock IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) was also down -3% after reminding the market about the volatile conditions in the lithium market at its AGM today. The company however said that “every effort is being made to increase production volumes over FY24.”

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