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The local market took a bit of a hit in Friday’s trading session, falling 1.6%. That’s the biggest fall we’ve seen in over two months, and this followed Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell indicating that US interest rates are poised to rise higher and faster.

Sectors wise, all sectors came under pressure, in particular the materials and tech sectors, which both fell over 2.5%. The healthcare sector however provided the market with some relief, rising 0.5%.

Looking at the ASX200 leaderboard, hospitality and liquor group company, Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV) was the biggest gainer, lifting 1.7%, and CSL rose 1.5% after announcing a new $US4 billion debt raising to help fund its $16.4 billion acquisition of Vifor Pharma. Meanwhile, the worst performers were Megaport (ASX:MP1), Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) and Pointsbet (ASX:PBH).

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients last Friday included BHP Group (ASX:BHP), Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) and the BetaShares Geared Australian Equity Fund ETF (ASX:GEAR).

Moving to the US, all three benchmarks closed in the green. The Dow managed to erase its 500-point intraday loss to close 200 points higher. This follows big tech names like Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta rallying in the afternoon. Twitter also soared after its board accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s offer to take it private.

What to watch today:

• Despite the positive session in the US, if you go by the SPI futures, the Aussie share market is set to open 0.3% lower this morning. 
• In commodities, the growing worries about global energy demand due to the prolonged lockdowns in Shanghai saw the WTI Crude oil price fall below US$100 a barrel. The gold price also dropped, as the potential for aggressive policy tightening by the US Fed weighed down on the haven’s appeal. The same can be said for uranium, which is trading over 8% lower. And the spot iron ore price is trading 0.7% lower at US$145 a tonne.
• Australian lithium exploration company, Lithium Plus Minerals will be debuting on the Aussie share market today. It will be trading under the ticker code LPM.
• If you’re a shareholder in global tech company, Adacel Technologies (ASX:ADA), you can expect to receive your dividend payment today.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter have maintained its BUY rating on coal mining company, Bathurst Resources (ASX:BRL) and have increased its price target from $1.25 to $1.63. At its current share price of $1.12, this implies 45% share price growth in a year.
• Trading Central has a bearish signal on South32 (ASX:S32), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $4.84 to the range of $4.45 - $4.53 in the next 24 days according to standard principals of technical analysis.