The local benchmark has risen on Wednesday AM, tracking Wall Street higher with lower bond yields.\u00a0 \u00a0Markets are showing resilience on the day after the day before \u2013 in this case the race that stops the nation \u2013 the Melbourne Cup \u2013 coinciding with a 13th interest rate hike since May 2022. The cash rate is now 4.35%.<\/p>\n
Odds were in favour of another interest rate rise with new RBA governor Michele Bullock saying<\/a> \u201cthe board judged an increase in interest rates was warranted today to be more assured that inflation would return to target in a reasonable timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n She says CPI inflation is now expected to be around 3.5% by the end of 2024 and at the top of the central bank\u2019s target range of 2 to 3% by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not a good day for Optus or customers with nationwide services only just coming back online since being out early this morning.<\/p>\n The telecommunications company says it\u2019s been working \u201curgently\u201d to get back up and running as millions of customers go without mobile data and network access.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re aware of an issue impacting Optus mobile and nbn services and are working to restore services as quickly as possible,\u201d Optus says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand connectivity is important and apologise for any inconvenience caused.\u201d<\/p>\n The outage has been the longest, and largest in recent times,\u00a0 reportedly caused by a fault in the provider\u2019s core network. It has\u00a0 wide ramifications for services and the economy causing delays in transport, impacting hospitals,\u00a0 GPs, businesses and phone lines around Australia.<\/p>\n Also there\u2019s plenty of grumpy pets around Australia today with some owners saying they first knew about the outage when their wifi-connected pet feeder didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n A woman who rang ABC Sydney radio said she found out about the Optus outage from her cat.<\/p>\n The cat has an automatic wi-fi feeder (connected to Optus) & when breakfast wasn\u2019t delivered at 6:10 am, the cat went to the bedroom to lodge a complaint with management.<\/p>\n \u2014 Denise C. (@SpudBenBean) November 7, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n\n Already there is talk about compensation for the outage with customers boycotting Australia\u2019s second largest telco. Optus is still recovering from the data of 10 million customers exposed in a cyber hack, just over a year ago.<\/p>\n Optus\u2019s competitor Telstra (ASX:TLS)<\/strong><\/a> has seen its share price rise more than 2% today following the outage and has reported an influx of customers trying to sign up.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, iron ore, gold and oil stocks on the ASX were trending lower today after Chinese data published yesterday evening showed that China\u2019s exports fell by 6.4% year-on-year in October.<\/p>\n That hit all levels from energy to iron ore with\u00a0big players BHP (ASX:BHP)<\/strong><\/a>, Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG)<\/strong><\/a> and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 all trending lower today.<\/p>\n Crude oil prices plunged 4% on the sluggish Chinese data to their lowest since July.<\/p>\n \u201cTraders will also remain on high alert for signs of a wider conflict emerging in the [Middle East] region that could disrupt supplies, but it seems those fears are subsiding,\u201d OANDA analyst Craig Erlam says.<\/p>\n At 12pm\u00a0 (AEDT) on Wednesday, the S&P\/ASX 200 Index is up by 16.7 points, or 0.24%, to 6,993.8.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Via MarketIndex<\/p>\n The All Ords was also trending up along with the All Technology index at midday.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Via MarketIndex<\/p>\n Nine of the 11 sectors were in the green today, with Information Technology leading the winners followed by real estate and telecommunications.\u00a0 Energy and Materials led the laggards.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Overnight, the S&P 500 fell by -0.69%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was up by +0.17%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed by +0.90%.<\/p>\n NASDAQ notched its eighth straight day of gains, as the Magnificent Seven stocks advanced and pacing the session with Amazon leading as it rose by 2%.<\/p>\n The best performer overnight was cybersecurity stock Datadog, which rose 28% after stronger-than-expected Q3 earnings and a bullish full-year guidance.<\/p>\n US Treasury yields fell overnight, with the yield on the 10-years last trading 9 basis points lower at 4.573%. The 2-year treasury yield fell 3 basis points to 4.911%.<\/p>\n The US Federal Reserve last week left interest rates unchanged but took a hawkish tone noting resilience from the economy despite a prolonged period of higher rates.<\/p>\n Chair Jerome Powell has not ruled out potential for further interest rate hikes and says cuts were not yet on the table.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for November 8 [intraday]:<\/strong><\/em> WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Oil and gas company Whitebark Energy (ASX:WBE)<\/strong><\/a> says the formal process to explore monetisation of all or part of its wholly owned Wizard Lake assets in Canada has attracted significant early interest.<\/p>\n Managed by Canadian firm Sayer Energy Advisors, the process has led to 17 parties signing confidentiality agreements with WBE.<\/p>\n New Age Exploration (ASX:NAE)<\/strong><\/a> says it has completed a cultural heritage survey with the Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation (KAC) at the drill ready Quartz Hill project in the Central Pilbara of WA.<\/p>\n NAE has now established the project timetable and secured the necessary heritage clearances to facilitate a substantial expansion of the lithium, caesium, tantalum (LCT) focused exploration program at Quartz Hill.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for November 8 [intraday]:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a> The post ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: ASX higher as hungry, grumpy cats fed late after Optus outage<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASX Sectors at midday on Wednesday<\/h2>\n
Not the ASX<\/h2>\n
ASX small cap winners<\/h2>\n
\nSwipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nASX small cap losers<\/h2>\n
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