Yesterday, the Aussie share market managed to claw back some of its losses from Friday, gaining 0.37%. Leading the gains were oil and gold stocks, following escalating fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Looking at the sector performances, only six out of 11 sectors closed higher. The energy sector gained the most, up over 3%, while the healthcare sector declined 1.4%.  

Gold miners dominated the leaderboard, including Regis Resources (ASX:RRL), Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), and Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST). The best performing stock on the ASX200 was Beach Energy (ASX:BPT), up an impressive 9.4%, after the company reported a solid first-half result, which included a 26% increase in EBITDA to $513 million. Meanwhile, the worst performing stocks were NOVONIX (ASX:NVX), Imugene (ASX:IMU) and Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR), all falling over 7%. 

The most traded stock by Bell Direct clients yesterday was JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH). The company released strong half-results yesterday, and announced a $250m share buyback, which sent its share price up 5.4%. Bell Potter maintain their HOLD rating on the stock but have increased its price target to $51.85, from $49.60.

In the US, all three benchmarks closed lower, as investors evaluate concerns about the Fed’s next plan for interest rate hikes, as well as the tensions between Russia and Ukraine. And earnings results are expected to ramp up again this week, with Nvidia, Walmart, Shopify and more scheduled to report.

Following the negative session on Wall Street, the futures are suggesting the Aussie share market will open 0.9% lower this morning. 

What to watch today:

• In economic news, the RBA will release its meeting minutes for February. The RBA is currently relatively dovish on rate hikes as local inflation is not as out of control as in the other major economies. 
• Reporting season: It’s a big week of results and today, the biggest company on the ASX, BHP Group (ASX:BHP) will release its half-year results. Stay tuned for our separate video where we’ll take you through the highlights. Some other companies reporting today include Ansell (ASX:ANN), Dexus (ASX:DXS), Sims (ASX:SGM), Adore Beauty (ASX:ABY), Elmo Software (ASX:ELO) and Seek (ASX:SEK).
• Computershare (ASX:CPU) is set to go ex-dividend today. 
• In commodities, the oil price hit 7-year highs, boosted by Russia and Ukraine’s tensions. The oil price is currently trading at about US$95 a barrel. And in a similar tale, the gold price also gained and is trading about 0.6% higher to US$1,872 an ounce. The lithium, palladium and silver price are all trading higher, while the seaborne iron ore price is trading 0.5% lower to US$150 a tonne. 

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter have maintained its BUY recommendation on Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and have increased its price target by a modest 20% to $61.35. Bell Potter believe MIN’s recent financial results were significantly impacted by the large decline in realised iron ore prices, however highlighted that the business made strong progress in the quarter towards its strategic goals, including expanding its iron ore export capacity, evolving its iron ore business to a low-cost base that will make it resilient to low iron ore price environments, and lastly, MIN’s ability to capture the downstream margins in its lithium business. As for other broker’s ratings on MIN, Macquarie have an Outperform rating with a $70 price target, while Ord Minnett have a SELL rating and $45 price target. 
• Trading Central has a bullish signal on Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX). This signal indicates that the stock price may rise from the close of $2.03 to the range of $2.29 -$2.35 in the next 40 days, according to standard principles of technical analysis.