Newcrest Posts Steady Q2 Production

The production numbers announced by NCM were broadly inline with market expectations and the correlation with Spot Gold remains intact.

The mining giant reported Q2 gold production of 613,000 ounces, which is a 17% increase quarter-on-quarter. The cost of production slipped slightly to US 830.00 per ounce.

We added NCM to our Top 50 Model Portfolio on December 13th at $22.10.

Technically, the share price remains tightly correlated to the price of Spot Gold.

As such, we estimate that investors will be able to buy NCM at $22.00 if the price of Spot Gold drifts back to $1320.00

Newcrest Mining

Spot Gold

Fortescue Firms On Lower Production Costs

Shares of Fortescue Metals are trading over 3% higher in early trade after the release of their Quarterly production results.

The report showed that Iron Ore shipments were down 4% to 40.5 million tons and the cost of production fell 4% to US $12.05 per ton, which is a record low overhead cost for the company.

With the mining and processing parts of the report as expected, the stock is firming on the lower cost of production, as well as the prospects that production costs could continue to decline.

FMG is part of our Top 50 Model Portfolio and our ALGO engine triggered a buy signal at $4.70 on May 15th.

Daily charts are showing stiff resistance in the $5.60 area. We suggest that investors who are long FMG work a sell-stop order at $4.95.

Fortesque Metals Group

 

 

Commonwealth Bank Announces New CEO

Shares of CBA have started the week with a firm tone as Australia’s biggest bank announced a replacement for outgoing CEO Ian Narev.

The current chief of Retail Banking, Matt Comyn, will take over as CEO on April 9th.

It’s worth noting that the retail section of the business has been hit with a series of problems, including Anti money laundering allegations which totalled close to $1 billion over 5 years.

The bank will announce its results for the half year ended 31 December 2017 on Wednesday, 7 February 2018.

Our ALGO engine triggered a sell signal for CBA on November 15th at $81.50.

With uncertainty growing in the domestic banking industry in general, we prefer a short bias for CBA and see price resistance in the $79.35 area and  the next downside support level near $77.20.

CBA

 

 

 

 

XJO Creates A Higher Low at 5991

The XJO has formed a “higher low” formation at 5991 and the short-term momentum indicators have turned positive.

With most ASX200 constituents trading on extended multiples, we feel the big four banks will need to find buying support, in order for the index to trade higher.

Any move higher from the 5991 low will likely be moderate and index investors can consider the GEAR ETF to gain additional leverage.

Our Algo Engine triggered a buy signal in the GEAR ETF on 17th January at $22.66.

Stop-Loss orders are  recommended at $22.45.

XJO

GEAR (ETF)

 

ALGO Update: Buy QANTAS On A Pullback

Shares of QAN have had a good start to 2018.

After slipping as low as $4.77 on January 10th, the share price has rallied over 10% and closed the week just off  its 1-month high near $5.25.

This move is made even more impressive against a backdrop of rising fuel costs and a stronger Aussie Dollar.

And while the internal momentum indictors aren’t reflecting an overbought condition, we believe that the share price is susceptible to pullback into the $5.00 support area in the near-term.

We added QAN to our ASX Top 50 Model Portfolio in July of 2017 at $5.25 and our ALGO engine triggered a buy signal in the stock on December 8th at the same price.

QANTAS