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The Australian market closed 0.25% lower on Friday and etched out its second straight week of losses, shedding 3.88% over the last 5 trading days in the indexes worst trading week since June. The materials sector plunged more than 10% for the week as a major lockdown in China weighs on investor sentiment toward the sector, as investors fear iron ore demand from China will weaken following the lockdown. Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) fell 6.23% on Friday, Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) 6.17%, and Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) dropped almost 5% to end the week.

Investor fears of demand weakening have been the determining factor for investments in materials stocks over the last week, despite some of the mining giants like BHP Group (ASX:BHP) reporting strong FY22 results last week.

Despite the turbulent session on Friday, investors piled into Life360 (ASX:360) despite no price sensitive news released by the company on the last trading day of the week. Investors also bought into GPT Group (ASX:GPT) on Friday and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CUV) rose 2.3% after releasing strong FY22 results.

On the losing front, investors sold-out of NOVONIX (ASX:NVX) on Friday with the battery materials and tech company diving more than 8% as investors respond to the company’s FY22 results including the full-year loss deepening to $71 million.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients last week were Boral (ASX:BLD), BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Core Lithium (ASX:CXO).

Over in the US, markets closed lower on Friday despite a morning rally on Wall Street. The Dow Jones and S&P500 each fell 1%, while the Nasdaq lost 1.3%. Stocks rallied in the morning as the US labour department issued a strong jobs report for august, showing payrolls rose 315,000 for the month as companies continue hiring in the tight labour market, while unemployment ticked higher to 3.7% as more people look for work. The sharp sell-off in afternoon trade came as investor sentiment changed to believe the strong jobs report won’t cause the feds to act any less aggressively toward tackling inflation for the foreseeable future. Over in Europe, the key markets rallied with the FTSE adding more than 1.8%, the Dax soaring 3.3% and the CAC jumping 2.2%. The G-7 rolled out a plan to cap the price of Russian oil on global markets as part of a set of sanctions aimed at limiting Russia’s revenue from oil sales without cutting off oil supply from Russia completely which would send global oil prices soaring.

What to watch today:

• ASX futures are expected to open 0.23% lower on the back of the sell-off on Wall St on Friday.
• Taking a look at commodities, crude oil is trading just under 1% higher this morning, natural gas is down 4.07%, gold is up just under 1% while iron ore is trading down more than 1%.
• On the economic data front, final retail sales data for July is released today in addition to ANZ Job ads for August.
• Investors will also be keeping a close eye on the RBA’s interest rate decision for September which is released tomorrow as well as Australian GDP for Q2 out on Wednesday, followed by Australia’s trade balance data out on Thursday.

Trading Ideas:

• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on CSL Limited (ASX:CSL) based on a pattern forming over a 25-day period which is roughly the amount of time the new price target will be achieved in the range between $314/share-$319/share from the close of $295.99/share, according to standard principles of technical analysis.
• Bell Potter has maintained its rating on Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS) to a speculative hold rating but downgraded its price target to $1.20/share from $1.25/share based on challenges anticipated to be faced in FY23 including regulatory approval by the FDA for its Enteric Protozan kit expected in Q2 FY23.