Following the lead of Wall Street on Friday, the ASX 200 index closed down 1.23% to 8,192 points today, weighed down by the banks and tech stocks.
The Financials sector lost 3.4% — CBA fell 2.1%; NAB declined 1.9%; Westpac was down 2.4%; ANZ finished 1.3% lower; while Macquarie lost 2.4%.
The Tech sector fell by 3.35% and Consumer Discretionary stocks also lost 1.93%.
The energy sector was buoyed by higher commodity prices — Woodside and Santos each jumped 2.4% following a jump in Brent crude to above $US81 per barrel.
NBN upgrades promised
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a $3 billion injection to finish the National Broadband Network (NBN) and speed up internet services, with more than half to be rolled out in rural and regional areas.
The $3 billion funding would upgrade fibre-to-the-node connections, providing an additional 622,000 new fibre connections with more than half in regional and rural areas.
The government expects that by 2030, when it expects the upgrade to be complete, more than 11 million homes and businesses will have access to connections enabling speeds of up to 1GB per second — well beyond the current 76.64 Mbps average connection speed.
Australian EV sales rise but lag rest of world
The Electric Vehicle Council has revealed that Australian electric vehicle sales reached a new record high in 2024, with 114,000 new battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) sold. This equates to nearly one-in-10 new car sales being EVs.
While an improvement on 98,000 EVs sold in the prior year, Australia still lags behind the rest of the world, where EV uptake has increased to the point that one in every five vehicles is an EV.
Australia has a lot of ground to make up in terms of EV uptake compared to the rest of the world (EVs account for 17.3% of the car market in the EU and a whopping 38% in China), but we’re certainly trending the right way.
"Last year's steady increase in EV sales and market share builds on a bumper 2023,” Electric Vehicle Council head of policy, legal and advocacy Aman Gaur said.
“Year after year, electric vehicle sales in Australia continue to climb, proving that demand for cleaner, more affordable driving is here and it’s rising.
“This growth includes an increase in the share of BEVs sold in Australia, with pure electric vehicles still making up the majority of overall EV sales.”
Gaur said the increase in sales was particularly encouraging when considering high interest rates and high cost of living, as well as the withdrawal of several EV incentives.
“It’s not just Australians’ desire to purchase an EV that’s driving the rise in sales – the increase in charging infrastructure, wider range of models at more competitive prices and the continuation of key purchase incentives have all played a crucial role in encouraging the next wave of EV owners to buy,” Gaur explained.
"Despite the progress, Australia still has a long way to go to achieve its climate and EV targets, and match adoption rates of other developed nations.
“The introduction of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard this year is a promising step forward, but accelerating momentum will also require increased investment in infrastructure, more incentives, updated regulations, nationally consistent policies, and proactive efforts to combat misinformation.”
QMines higher
QMines Ltd (ASX:QML) was as much as 20.83% higher to $0.435 after receiving high-grade copper and zinc results from drilling at the Develin Creek Project in central Queensland and Terra Metals Ltd (ASX:TM1, OTC:PNGZF) rose another 28.13% today to $0.041 after it received a speeding ticket from the ASX seeking an explanation for the increase from $0.023 to $0.032 last week.
Other positive moves in the small cap sector today were made by Titan Minerals Ltd (ASX:TTM, OTC:TTTNF), which was up as much as 10.13% to $0.435, Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN, OTCQB:ANSNF) rose 7.82% to a daily high of $0.069, Anteris Technologies Global Corp (ASX:AVR, OTC:AMEUF) moved up 6.53% to $9.80, Brookside Energy Ltd (ASX:BRK, OTC:RDFEF) reached $0.52, a 5.06% increase on the previous close, Predictive Discovery Ltd (ASX:ASX:PDI (OTC:IDXG), OTC:PDIYF) lifted 4.90% to $0.257 and Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, NASDAQ:NVA) was up by 4.0% to $0.39 after last week hitting a new high of almost two years at $0.455.
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