End of Day Report – Friday 18 July: ASX 200 up 118 to new record | Banks fire, graphite flies

The ASX 200 exploded 118 points higher to 8757 (1.4%) as banks and resources caught a wave of buying. BHP production numbers, coupled with iron ore gains in Asia, helped the Big Australian up 3.0%. RIO up 1.8% with FMG lagging only up 0.5%.  Lithium and graphite stocks flew, LTR up 10.1% and PLS rallying another 8.6%, with MIN up 4.8% and ILU rising 5.0%. Graphite stocks were in demand, SYR up 25.9%, and TLG up 10.0%. Gold miners found some love late in the day, NST up% % with EVN rising % but uranium stocks dipping slightly. Industrials firmed across the board, WES up 1.4% with TCL up 0.9% and SGH rising 3.0%. Healthcare is too in demand, CSL rallying 3.6% on a broker report, and MSB is living up to its name on revenue, up 34.6%. Tech stocks are better, WTC up 1.2%, and XRO rising 1.0%. Banks, as usual, didn’t want to miss out. CBA up 0.9% with WBC rising 1.8% and MQG up 1.3%. The Big Bank Basket up to $286.78 (+1.1%). Financials are also in demand, IFL is better by 5.8% on reports that a deal is close. Insurers rose, REITS better, GMG up 1.5%, and SGP up 0.9%.

In corporate news, ALX fell 0.4% on US supreme court news, FBU rose 3.0% on a business update. Nothing on the economic front local.

Asian markets mixed, Japan down 0.2% ahead of weekend election, HK up 0.8% and China up 0.4%. 10-year yields steady at 4.33%

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