Daily Market Update

The failure of two major banks in the United States on Friday continued to roil markets, with the US indices – and bond yields – falling over the weekend, and the inevitable follow-on effect saw the Australian market under pressure, too. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Monday finished down 35.9 points, or 0.5 per cent,…

There was not much action on the Australian share market on Thursday, if you are judging that by index movements: the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index added 3.3 points, to close at 7311.1, while the broader All Ordinaries edged 10.5 points higher, to 7,514.40. On the industrial screens, accounting software giant Xero surged $89.38, or 10.7…

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 56.9 points, or 0.8 per cent, on Wednesday, to 7,307.8, while the broader All Ordinaries was 58.8 points lower, also 0.8 per cent, at 7,503.9. It was a particularly bad day for gold miners, caught in a gold price slide in the fall-out of US Federal Reserve chair Jerome…

While the Reserve Bank of Australia, as expected, lifted the country’s official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.6 per cent, in the tenth consecutive hike, the semantics of Governor Philip Lowe’s policy statement galvanised the market. A slight change of wording in the crucial final paragraph, which discarded a specific reference to “further…

Ahead of what is expected to be another 25-basis-point interest rate rise announced today, it was a reasonably positive tone from the Australian share market on Monday. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 45 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7,328.6, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 41.7 points, also 0.6 per cent, to 7,525.7….

The local market managed to finish the week on a positive note, gaining 0.4 per cent, but ultimately capping a fourth straight week of losses to finish 0.3 per cent lower. On Friday, it was all about the mining and energy sectors with Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) gaining 1.6 per cent and BHP (ASX:BHP) 0.6 per…

Rising iron ore prices helped mining heavyweights BHP Group, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources on Thursday, and in turn that helped to push the major indices higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Thursday up 3.8 points at 7,255.4, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 3.9 points to 7,460. Iron ore has risen 15 per cent since the start of 2023, on optimism…

Optimism for mining stocks battled a downturn in the big banks in deciding the direction for the Australian share market on Wednesday, with the banks prevailing just enough to see the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 close 6.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, lower at 7251.6, while the broader All Ordinaries Index retreated 1.9 points to 7456.1. The bullishness for the miners…

Australian retail sales rebounded in January as household spending defied inflation and higher borrowing costs, strengthening the case for the Reserve Bank to keep raising interest rates, and run a “higher for longer” rates scenario, taking its cue from its central bank peers in the US and Europe. Retail sales rose 1.9 per cent in January after…

Local investors had the weekend to digest Friday night’s alarming report of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric, and they decided they didn’t like it. On Friday night Australian time, the US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) figure showed that US consumer spending rose 4.7 per cent in the year to January, well above the market…

The busiest week of reporting season ended on a positive note, with the industrials and technology sectors, up 1.4 and 2.4 per cent respectively, contributing to a 0.3 per cent gain for the market. The materials sector was the main detractor, falling 1.2 per cent as Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) dropped 3.6 per cent as the…

Another bumper day of profit announcements wasn’t enough to send the S&P/ASX200 higher on Thursday, with the materials sector, down 1.6 per cent, ultimately pushing the market down 0.4 per cent. The falling iron ore price hit the likes of BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), but the more defensive healthcare and utilities sectors, up…