End of Day Report – Monday 16 December: ASX 200 down 47 | Banks steady, iron ore sinks

ASX 200 slid 47 points to 8250 (0.6%) as banks remained solid and resources sunk. Iron ore stocks fell hard as Chinese retail data showed no real sign of a stimulus helping. BHP down 2.0% and FMG off 3.8%. Lithium stocks remain depressed, PLS off 3.1% and MIN falling 2.0%. Gold miners too under pressure as bullion comes off the boil. NEM down 3.6% with NST off 2.1% and VAU dropping 8.0%. Oil and gas eased with uranium stocks under pressure on a spot price downgrade from UBS. Banks help up with the Big Bank Basket solid at $257.88 (+0.3%). Insurers are also doing well, SUN up 0.8% and IAG up 1.2%. Other financials withered and died, ASX off 0.7% with HMC down 13.7% following DGT much lower. REITs fell, GMG down 1.8% with SGP down 1.0%. Tech eased back, WTC lost 1.8% with XRO down 0.3%, the All-Tech Index fell 1.0%. Retail was mixed, LOV up 0.5% and PMV down 1.8%. GYG dropped 3.6% with LNW down 1.9% too. In corporate news, not much around today. In economics, the RBA has been shaken up a little bit with two new appointments to the Interest rate-setting committee. Chinese data was lacklustre. Again. Asian markets drifted lower, Japan down 0.1% and China and HK falling 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. 10-year yields rose to 4.31%.

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