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Yesterday the ASX200 closed in the green, with eight of the eleven industry sectors higher. The materials and energy sectors lead the market yesterday, underpinned by strong oil prices.

On the ASX200 leaderboard, Blackmores (ASX:BKL) gained the most, rebounding from the previous session. On Friday BKL dropped 10.5% following its earnings report, before bouncing back on Monday and closing 9.8% higher. Ord Minnett and Morgans say Blackmores is a Hold, while Citi have a Sell rating. Meanwhile, Life360 (ASX:360) was the worst performer, falling 9%. 360 is a Bell Potter Buy.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday included BHP Limited (ASX:BHP), Accent Group (ASX:AX1), Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR) and Westpac (ASX:WBC).

US equities closed mixed overnight. The Dow down 0.5%, the S&P500 down 0.2%, while the Nasdaq closed 0.4% higher.

The local market is set to rise, with the SPI futures suggesting a 0.23% rise at the open this morning.

What to watch today:

• Oil prices continue to rally as the war escalates in Ukraine. Oil is currently 4.8% higher at US$95 a barrel. The gold price had its largest monthly gain since May, trading higher at US$1,910 an ounce. And the seaborne iron ore price is lower at US$141 a tonne.
• In economic data, today the RBA will announce its interest rate decision, expected to remain unchanged at 0.1%.
• As reporting season wraps up, many companies are set to go ex-dividend this week. This often sees shares fall, as investors take their profits. Today, ex-dividend stocks include AUB Group (ASX:AUB), Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV) and Origin Energy (ASX:ORG).

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintain their Buy rating on BWX (ASX:BWX) and have decrease their price target from $6.10 to $4.90. BWX delivered a statutory NPAT loss of $2.3 million, due to several headwinds relating to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
• Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Lotus Resources (ASX:LOT), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $0.29 to the range of $0.34 to $0.36, over 24 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.