Woolworth's Christmas comes early

Thursday’s session remained muted ahead of the week’s most crucial data release for Australia – Private Capital expenditure. Following the flop of 2.2% in quarterly construction work completed, the market eagerly watching for green-shoots in Australian private businesses. Third quarter private capex did not disappoint. Private business investment grew by 0.2%, easily beating expectations of a drop of 1.7%. The local currency gained a third of a cent and local shares received a 12 point kicker following the news.

As Iron Ore continues to dive towards the $60 mark, miners again shift into focus. The major Iron Ore producers were under selling pressure following Wednesday’s brief buying relief. BHP shed almost 1.5% which dwarfed its peer RIO who only shook off 0.4% during trading. RIO is easily the miner who will best weather the fall in price. Glencore’s persistent courting also stands in RIO’s favour.

Wesfarmers and Woolworths finally received some respite from almost 10 sessions of relentless selling. Christmas shoppers are tipped to unleash $30billion over the holiday season with a bulk of that to be spent on liquor and groceries. The supermarket-giants are without a doubt due to be on the receiving end of the silly-season spending. Woolworths hosted its AGM today and confirmed a lift in annual profit. It was also encouraging to see them note improved trading conditions in recent weeks after releasing disappointing first quarter sales numbers earlier this month. WOW gained almost 2% following the AGM.

Wall Street will be on pause overnight for Thanksgiving holiday, the local market may need to look elsewhere for Friday leads.

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