ASX Large Caps: Shares up 1pc as coal stocks Whitehaven, Yancoal jump on quarterly updates

ASX ends the week on a high note, up 1pc
Market bullish after strong outlook by global giant, TSMC
Coal mining stocks Yancoal and Whitehaven jump after updates

Aussie shares rebounded by 1% on Friday following a rally in US tech stocks overnight. For the week however, the benchmark ASX 200 index is down by -1%.

There was improved risk sentiment across most major European, UK and US equities markets last night, buoyed by some positive outlook from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Further, comments from Atlanta Fed Reserve President Raphael Bostic offered hope that US interest rates could be cut this year.

On the ASX today, all sectors except for Utilities flashed green, with heavyweight financial and mining stocks leading the way.

Coal mining stocks led as Yancoal (ASX:YAL) and Whitehaven (ASX:WHC) gave the market their December quarter updates, with the latter’s share price hitting a 1-year high.

Meanwhile, the US Congress has, in the last couple of hours, passed a temporary bill that will avert a partial US government shutdown this weekend. Without the bill, some US agencies were set to run out of money after today.

Across the region, Asian stock markets mostly advanced, fuelled by hopes for a global recovery.

“The better-than-expected results from TSMC could be positive signals on demand recovery,” An Hyungjin, fund manager at Billionfold Asset Management, told Bloomberg.

Looking ahead to tonight in the US, December existing home sales are due, together with the University of Michigan January consumer sentiment.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap TLC The Lottery Corp 4.93 6.02 4,226,717 $10,349,838,419 YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 5.52 4.94 6,152,985 $6,945,511,439 XRO Xero Ltd 114.33 4.44 214,186 $16,598,555,473 WHC Whitehaven Coal 8.13 4.10 9,842,702 $6,533,852,123 NAN Nanosonics Limited 4.28 3.88 522,958 $1,247,656,992 PXA Pexagroup 10.80 3.85 156,905 $1,844,944,046 SMR Stanmore Resources 4.16 3.74 1,567,981 $3,614,580,452 PME Pro Medicus Limited 99.78 3.29 151,457 $10,090,379,951 ALL Aristocrat Leisure 42.64 3.24 675,690 $26,580,746,617 OCL Objective Corp 12.43 3.24 10,998 $1,146,314,145 WTC Wisetech Global Ltd 73.99 3.21 184,069 $23,900,502,416 SKC Skycity Ent Grp Ltd 1.73 3.13 65,731 $1,277,144,751 CRN Coronado Global Res 1.66 3.11 1,767,544 $2,699,090,505 NHC New Hope Corp 5.33 3.09 2,742,472 $4,370,384,349 MAQ Macquarie Technology 70.79 3.04 21,396 $1,672,451,212 ALU Altium Limited 48.30 2.96 210,373 $6,188,687,971 ARB ARB Corporation. 33.43 2.92 55,257 $2,670,519,924

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Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL) surged over 5% after releasing its December quarter report.

The company achieved 10.1Mt of attributable coal sales during the December quarter. The average realised coal price came in at $196/t, versus $422/t in the pcp.

The coal miner also produced 12.9Mt of saleable coal for the quarter, and held $477m in cash at 31 December.

Rival Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) meanwhile rose by 4% after saying that its December quarter ROM (run-of-mine) production fell 6% for the three months to 5.0Mt, but FY24-to-date production was up 17%.

WHC’s coal sales rose 21% to 3.7Mt in the quarter, with an average realised price of $216/t from $224/t in the pcp, and against $527/t for the December quarter 2022.

WHC says it holds $1.5b of net cash.

Mining services stock NRW Holdings (ASX:NWH) rose 1% after being designated ‘preferred proponent’ to deliver a $225m suburban Perth roadwork interchange project, funded equally by the Australian and WA governments.

The Reid Highway Interchanges project is a new free-flowing interchanges on Reid Highway at Altone Road and Drumpellier Drive / Daviot Road to improve safety, traffic flow and urban amenity. It’s being built by Main Roads.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap DYL Deep Yellow Limited 1.46 -6.85 8,675,226 $1,200,180,978 BOE Boss Energy Ltd 5.36 -3.94 1,905,784 $2,280,280,074 MCY Mercury NZ Limited 5.96 -3.56 4,918 $8,597,784,337 PDN Paladin Energy Ltd 1.21 -3.39 10,640,025 $3,744,136,294 MEZ Meridian Energy 5.02 -2.90 48,449 $6,545,605,522 ASK Abacus Storage King 1.02 -2.86 1,374,960 $1,379,808,110 EMR Emerald Res NL 3.19 -2.15 1,425,532 $2,036,856,251 GNE Genesis Energy Ltd 2.32 -1.69 11,886 $2,536,151,063 IFT Infratil Limited 9.40 -1.67 32,519 $7,959,346,552 SGR The Star Ent Grp 0.49 -1.50 9,261,446 $1,434,340,439 HGH Heartland Group 1.33 -1.48 2,185 $965,608,115 LTR Liontown Resources 1.20 -1.44 11,643,436 $2,942,711,477

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