ASX Large Caps: Shares 1pc higher as Neuren, Block surge; SBF found guilty of all charges

ASX lifted 1pc on Friday, up 3pc for the week
Neuren, Block Inc, Lendlease, and media stocks were the best gainers
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all charges

The ASX tracked Wall Street to close 1% higher today. For the week, the benchmark ASX200 index was up 3%, practically erasing last week’s losses.

Overnight, US stocks rose for the second straight day after the Fed held interest rates steady at their highest range in 22 years on Wednesday, bolstering hopes the Fed could be done with rate hikes.

All ASX sectors gained on Friday with the exception of Energy, which hovered between loss and gain throughout the day as crude prices jumped by 2.5%.

Best performing sector today was Real Estate and Industrials, which lifted by 2% each.

Comm Services stocks like REA Group (ASX:REA), Seven Group (ASX:SVW) and Seek (ASX:SEK) were some of the top large caps, along with market darling Neuren (ASX:NEU) – see more below.

Meanwhile, news is just out that disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on all seven charges, potentially putting him in jail for up to 110 years. The jury convened for just five hours before delivering the verdict.

Closer to home, Aussie retail sales rose 0.2% in the September quarter, according to ABS data today. The small increase follows three quarterly falls in a row.

Across the region, Asian stocks also echoed US advance, but US equity futures have ticked lower in Asian trading weighed down by sluggish results from Apple Inc after the bell.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap SQ2 Block 80.99 24.88 789,429 $2,132,504,378 NEU Neuren Pharmaceut. 12.40 9.83 1,338,082 $1,428,926,482 AZS Azure Minerals 4.02 8.65 22,931,808 $1,649,328,217 LTR Liontown Resources 1.68 6.15 11,723,546 $3,811,977,882 SFR Sandfire Resources 6.35 6.01 992,760 $2,737,384,500 ZIM Zimplats Holding Ltd 20.97 5.11 6,217 $2,147,371,098 ALX Atlas Arteria 5.66 4.81 1,512,750 $7,834,502,018 QUB Qube Holdings Ltd 2.91 4.68 3,213,567 $4,911,459,393 IGO IGO Limited 9.77 4.44 2,199,710 $7,080,454,052 AKE Allkem Limited 9.58 4.36 1,704,681 $5,868,969,470

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Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) reported its September quarter to the NYSE last night, with revenue at $US5.62b against $US4.52b in th pcp. SQ2 recorded a $US28.95m net loss however.

Market darling Neuren Pharma (ASX:NEU) surged after reporting that its Rett syndrome drug, DAYBUE, generated net sales in Q3 of US$66.9 million, up from US$23.2 million in Q2.

The company also guided the market for net sales in Q4 of between US$80 million and US$87.5 million. Neuren reported that 800 patients used on DAYBUE as at 30 September, and this surge in initial demand has exceeded pre-launch expectations.

Lendlease Group (ASX: LLC) rose after announcing the company and Google are mutually terminating four development services agreements covering the proposed San Francisco Bay project.

The decision to end these agreements followed a comprehensive review by Google of its real estate investments and Lendlease said its market guidance for FY24 remains unchanged with core operating ROE at the lower end of the 8%-10% range.

Tietto Minerals (ASX:TIE) rose 5% after rejecting Zhaojin’s 58c-per-share takeover offer. Zhaojin holds around 7% of TIE.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap TWE Treasury Wine Estate 11.15 -6.89 6,717,120 $8,644,398,991.4251000 WGX Westgold Resources. 2.01 -5.19 915,043 $1,004,080,187.6000000 PSI Psc Insurance Ltd 4.37 -3.32 664,384 $1,624,404,298.6400000 BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 1.35 -3.05 2,949,538 $1,602,862,764.5700000 AD8 Audinate Group Ltd 13.25 -2.86 58,877 $1,133,604,523.0400000 GOR Gold Road Res Ltd 1.81 -2.70 1,368,851 $2,002,700,141.8900000 DYL Deep Yellow Limited 1.32 -2.41 4,282,741 $1,023,865,605.4500000 RMS Ramelius Resources 1.61 -1.83 2,597,986 $1,857,573,333.1650000 WHC Whitehaven Coal 7.16 -1.78 3,370,862 $6,098,819,715.3600000 NHC New Hope Corporation 5.38 -1.65 2,069,886 $4,623,984,988.0800000 RED Red 5 Limited 0.30 -1.64 6,194,582 $1,055,967,721.2500000 STO Santos Ltd 7.39 -1.60 6,185,705 $24,390,774,937.1100000 HSN Hansen Technologies 5.20 -1.52 112,712 $1,072,913,888.6400000 EMR Emerald Res NL 2.65 -1.49 3,061,482 $1,672,335,501.4000000 PDN Paladin Energy Ltd 1.01 -1.47 17,549,677 $3,043,043,043.6600000 MCY Mercury NZ Limited 5.40 -1.46 868 $7,623,925,269.7200000 DEG De Grey Mining 1.15 -1.29 1,886,884 $2,086,950,632.6800000 YAL Yancoal Aust Ltd 4.72 -1.26 1,072,831 $6,311,700,508.8600000

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Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE) resumed from a trading halt after raising $604m in a $10.80-per-share institutional entitlement offer. The purpose of the cap raise is to fund the acquisition of California-headquartered DAOU Vineyards for $US900m upfront, plus earn-out payments of up to $100m.

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