FIVE at FIVE AU: ASX climbs; Aussie banks gain on international turmoil; companies may opt to stay private with interest rate pressure

The ASX made up a little lost ground today, gaining 0.90% or 62.30 points to bring the index to 6,960.80 after setting a new 50-day low yesterday and is currently down 4.36% for the last 52 weeks.

The sectors responded, almost green across the board except for a 1.48% dip in Utilities and minor (

The sector with the most growth today was Consumer Discretionary (+1.53%), closely followed by Financials (+1.32%), Energy (+1.12%) and Materials (+1.06%).

Top-performing stocks on the ASX200 today were New Hope Corporation Limited, up 8.98% and Domino's Enterprise Pizza Limited, up 5.90%.

New Hope Corporation is trading up on stellar half-year profits, which the company managed to double to $669 million compared to the corresponding period last year on the back of a 54% increase in year-on-year revenue.

New Hope will be offering a fully franked dividend, prompting investors to snap up shares in an effort to get their hands on a piece of the profits.

Domino's stocks rallied after Barrenjoey analyst Tom Kierath argued the sell-off had gone too far, upgrading the fast food franchise to a Buy recommendation with a share price target of $59 a share.

Commodities were also mostly on the up, although gold (-0.27%), palladium (-0.57%), aluminium (+0.11%) and zinc (-0.14%) seem to have largely missed the boat, and nickel (-2.74%) is heading in the opposite direction.

Silver, platinum, copper, lead and tin were all up more than 1% and West Texas Intermediate crude oil arrested some of its downward slide with a strong 1.91% uptick today, although still down 11.10% for the month.

In the news today

Aussie banks shine in uncertain market

In the face of collapsing international banks and the threat of financial contagion, Australian banks are flexing their strong fundamentals.

Trades of Westpac Bank (WDC) shot up 350% week-on-week following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, Commonwealth Bank trades went up 114.3% and ANZ Bank was the second most traded stock on Tiger Trade’s platform, even with a 34.1% reduction in trade volume for the week.

With Silicon Valley, Signature and Silvergate already down and Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) in the midst of being bailed out, the fear of financial contagion is growing internationally.

Australian traders seem unphased, opting to trade heavily in US banking stocks as well as Australian securities; First Republic Bank trades were up a whopping 9,050% to be the second most traded US stock on Tiger's platform and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) trades increased in volume by 625% to notch the No.9 banking stocks spot.

“Bank stocks have been in the headlines for the past two weeks,” Tiger Brokers Australia chief investment officer Brett Reynolds said.

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“Since SVB collapsed, the financial sector has been very volatile. It's interesting to see Australian Tiger Trade users completing a large number of trades of stocks in this sector.

“Australian banks are in a very different position to overseas banks. Our banks are well-capitalised and very sound.

“For investors, they continue to offer a strong yield with franking benefits for many investors.

“The seemingly panic trading of First Republic Bank after SVB is not a massive surprise.

“Whereas Bank of America is comparatively more stable and the increase in trades is likely a reflection of investors recognising better value with its price dropping.

“While Credit Suisse has been bailed out, there is a chance other institutions like Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) could find themselves caught in the credit squeeze.”

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