ASX Large Caps: ASX drops sharply from record high; MinRes, Bapcor, Origin make exec changes

ASX 200 down -1pc, tracking moves in New York
Rates sensitive stocks hit hard after Jerome Powell comments last night
Bapcor, Origin, MinRes announce exec changes

The ASX 200 lost around -1.2% today as it pulled back from record highs set yesterday.

Local shares tracked New York where the tech heavy Nasdaq led an all out selloff overnight.

Traders hit the sell button after Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that he won’t move to cut interest rates in March, but will instead look to inflation data.

However, Powell acknowledged that the Fed’s interest rate target is “likely at its peak for this tightening cycle” right now.

On the ASX today, it was a sea of red with all 11 sectors falling, the exact opposite of yesterday’s session. Rates sensitive sectors Tech, Financials and Real Estate led the blood bath.

Among the decliners today were lithium stocks, which tumbled after BofA analyst, Michael Widmer, slashed his forecast for spodumene prices – by -63% in 2024 and -34% in 2025 – citing slowing demand for electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, ABS data released today show that building approvals in Australia slumped by -9.5% in December, while dwellings approved in 2023 totalled 162,194, down -15.4% on 2022.

“Compounded by record levels of migration, Australia’s housing undersupply is expected to persist for several years,” Maree Kilroy from Oxford Economics told ABC News.

Across the region, Asian stocks were mixed but Chinese stocks gained after China’s Finance Minister said he will increase investment funded by the central government to focus on technology and chips sectors, and maintain fiscal spending.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap CCP Credit Corp Group 18.25 6.01 623,566 $1,171,430,592 SKC Skycity Ent Grp Ltd 1.87 5.95 479,141 $1,341,762,194 RED Red 5 Limited 0.33 4.76 7,093,881 $1,091,097,173 TAH TABCORP 0.84 4.69 4,977,582 $1,825,928,791 CEN Contact Energy Ltd 7.50 2.88 3,181 $1,855,814,447 DMP Domino Pizza Enterpr 40.74 2.75 581,944 $3,561,122,166 AX1 Accent Group Ltd 2.08 2.72 689,737 $1,137,367,456 A2M The A2 Milk Company 4.94 2.28 5,763,758 $3,491,775,123 WGX Westgold Resources. 2.25 1.81 1,838,945 $1,046,706,233 DYL Deep Yellow Limited 1.49 1.71 3,119,910 $1,116,387,490 LFG Liberty Fin Group 4.23 1.44 142 $1,266,862,150 BOE Boss Energy Ltd 5.65 1.44 2,044,579 $2,276,193,551 FPH Fisher & Paykel H. 22.44 1.36 247,066 $12,928,955,919 BAP Bapcor Limited 5.72 1.33 2,069,929 $1,914,286,500 ASK Abacus Storage King 1.15 1.32 1,111,146 $1,491,506,862 NST Northern Star 13.32 1.29 2,721,420 $15,112,257,675 NEM Newmont Corporation 53.26 1.02 656,593 $9,237,682,647

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Bapcor (ASX:BAP) rose after announcing the appointment of Paul Dumbrell as CEO and Managing Director, to replace Noel Meehan who will step down from the role on 5 February.

The current Chair, Margie Haseltine, has also advised the Board that she will not seek re-election to the Board at the 2024 AGM, in order to facilitate an orderly transition.

Skycity Entertainment (ASX:SKC) was up 5% after announcing that itself and Austrac had come to an agreement for Skycity to pay a civil penalty and legal costs of around $73 million.

The penalty was in relation to money laundering offences filed by Austrac against Skycity Adelaide in December.

Credit Corp (ASX:CCP) rose strongly today on no specific news.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap EMR Emerald Res NL 3.08 -7.78 2,049,743 $2,088,475,207 RRL Regis Resources 1.95 -6.82 2,778,933 $1,578,658,109 AWC Alumina Limited 1.11 -4.94 11,493,860 $3,380,458,851 ERA Energy Resources 0.06 -4.92 392,294 $1,351,046,250 CNI Centuria Capital 1.66 -4.05 670,438 $1,392,775,821 INA Ingenia Group 4.30 -4.02 540,732 $1,825,973,023 IFL Insignia Financial 2.07 -3.72 1,382,958 $1,433,247,519 IGO IGO Limited 7.29 -3.64 5,631,540 $5,724,944,666 DRR Deterra 5.34 -3.61 988,046 $2,928,718,380 SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 9.36 -3.60 227,596 $1,289,669,276 HLS Healius 1.34 -3.43 1,675,342 $1,005,602,855 LTM Arcadium Lithium PLC 7.52 -3.41 3,114,116 $4,221,523,103 LTR Liontown Resources 1.00 -3.40 9,178,410 $2,494,644,298 BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 1.29 -3.38 7,732,895 $1,565,864,662 LIC Lifestyle Communit. 17.46 -3.16 69,126 $1,884,948,712 LYC Lynas Rare Earths 5.70 -3.15 4,086,197 $5,496,002,696

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Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) said it has made reporting changes which would restate its cash profits by -$119m loss in the June half.

Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) announced that Chief Financial Officer Lawrie Tremaine has advised the Board of his intention to retire.

Tremaine joined Origin as Chief Financial Officer in mid-2017, and will retire at the end of July 2024. A process to identify a successor has commenced.

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) has appointed Jacqueline McGill AO to the MinRes Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director effective today.

McGill has more than 30 years of experience in large-scale mining and resources sectors. At BHP, McGill held chief executive level positions at Mitsui Coal and Olympic Dam Corporation.

IGO (ASX:IGO) dropped on lithium price weakness, but it also announced today that its venture partner, Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX), released assay results for the second hole (23WKDD004) drilled into the Dogleg Prospect. Best results include: 2.89 m (True Width 2.63 m) at 4.17% Ni, 0.83% Cu, 0.14% Co from 233.63 m.

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