PEAK ASSET: ARVO WRAP 1 December: A Friday fizzer for Aussie markets as energy and tech stocks drag | Mitre Mining acquires transformational Chilean silver-gold project |

Happy Friday!

PEAK will be hosting our inaugural Xmas party on Wednesday 13th December from 6pm at Dutton Garage in Richmond (see details below).

If you wish to attend, please RSVP to: info@peakassetmanagement.com.au

We look forward to seeing you there!

Across Markets…

• The ASX benchmark has ended Friday lower, but the week higher
• 11 of 11 sectors in the rouge
• Small caps led by mighty diggers Mitre, Dalaroo and Perpetual Resources 

Local markets have had a sullen run of it on Friday, after US bond yields rose and tech stocks fell overnight.

Oil prices also crashed on an unhappy outcome at the headline OPEC+ meeting.

Around the traps, regional equity markets are all doing it tough on Friday.

One of the problems is the Caixin survey out of China, which has November Chinese manufacturing kicking absolute goals for factory activity.

That flies right in the face of official data released yesterday which detailed a second straight month of contraction.

The Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI rose to 50.7 last month, up from 49.5 in October, smacking market forecasts of 49.8 and pointing to the highest reading since August.

The Caixin read, miraculously, has both output and buying levels returning to growth, suggesting that Beijing’s mild recent efforts to excite the local economy are coming good – a direct contradiction of the official numbers out of the bureau of stats.

Caixin – a formerly independent Chinese financial media organisation, but now wholly state-run, also reports that business sentiment has suddenly lifted to a four-month peak.

The Friday performance of national equity markets of China’s satellite economies suggests the Caixin read is having trouble finding buyers, with most Asian markets lower near 4pm in Sydney.

After responding positively to Thursday’s official PMI’s, which suggested that Beijing may have to initiate further stimulus to promote activity, the ASX Materials sector has fallen significantly .

At home, broad-based selling has followed up Thursday’s surprise bonanza of gains. The IT sector is coming in for some heavy treatment, although at 3.45pm, the sector’s strong midweek performance still leaves it way out ahead and likely to end the last week of November – the strongest month of the year for the ASX benchmark – well ahead by more than +2%.

Elsewhere the Energy sector remains a weak point. A furtive OPEC+ has offered traders little to go on after the overnight conclusion of possibly the year’s most important meeting for the oil-producing cartel.

Members have reportedly agreed to trim output, except for Angola, which has come out in defiance of the group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices began today’s session in Sydney having tumbled almost 2.5% overnight to nearer US$75.00.

Source: Stockhead