After what was a seven-day losing streak, Australian shares closed 1.4% in the green yesterday, with a rally in mining and energy stocks. Energy and financials were the best performing industry sectors. The 4 major banks all gained over 2%. 

The top performing stocks were PointsBet Holdings (ASX:PBH) and Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN), while the worst performer was Lake Resources (ASX:LKE). The lithium developer was added to the ASX200 on Monday and was performing very well, up 185% the past year. Yesterday however, LKE crashed 28%, after the surprising announcement that the company’s CEO and Managing Director, has left the company and the former CEO made no comments. 

Bell Direct clients were selling LKE yesterday. Lake Resources was the most traded stock. Clients were also trading ANZ, Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC). 

US equities made a comeback overnight, with all three major benchmarks closing with gains. This follows the US markets worst weekly loss in 2 years, as investors assessed aggressive policy tightening by the Federal Reserve and rising chances of a recession. The Dow Jones gained more than 600 points or 2.15%, and the S&P500 and the Nasdaq each gained 2.5%. 

What to watch today:

• Following New York, the Australian market is set to open higher today. The SPI futures are suggesting the local market will rise 0.75% at the open this morning. 
• In commodities, the price of oil is trading flat. Persistent concerns about tight oil supply continue to outweigh fears of an economic slowdown. The gold price is under pressure amid elevated Treasury yields and a strong US dollar. And iron ore tumbled to around US$115 a tonne, its lowest level since last December. This fall comes due to persistent COVID outbreaks in China, as well as global rate hikes, raise concerns about demand. 
• Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (ASX:FPH) is set to go ex-dividend. 
• Odette Six Metals (ASX:OD6) will list on the ASX today. 

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintain a Speculative Buy rating on PointsBet Holdings (ASX:PBH). The corporate bookmaker yesterday announced the placement of 38.75 million shares at an issue price of $2.43 per share to SIG Sports Investments, who will become the largest shareholder in the company, and the placement will raise $94.2 million for PointsBet. The company also announced they’ve entered an agreement with a company called Nellie Analytics, to provide sports analytics and quantitative modelling services. Bell Potter have lowered their valuation from $6 to $5.25. At PBH’s current share price of $2.78, this implies 88.8% share price growth in a year. 
• Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Nearmap (ASX:NEA). Indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $1.03, to the range of $1.26 to $1.32 over 15 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.