The S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) fell 0.3% to begin the week, struggling to overcome a weak overseas lead with a lack of material announcements for the local market.
ASX 200 chart
All eyes were on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s 60 Minutes interview, in which he highlighted that the US economy is at an ‘inflection point’ with economic growth and hiring set to accelerate, whilst flagging that new surges in COVID-19 had the potential to impede the recovery. This comes as states including Michigan report record case numbers.
Communications and healthcare were the key contributors, adding 0.7% each behind a resurgent Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), up 1.8%, and CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), which added 0.8%.
This wasn’t enough to overcome weakness in the real estate and materials sector, both falling 1.2% behind Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX) and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), down 1% and 1.5%, respectively.
Lithium miners were among the leaders, with Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) adding 4.7% after confirming production had returned to its capacity at the Mt Cattlin mine.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) also made headlines as its venture-building outfit, x15ventures, invested $1 million in bill pay start-up Payble. CBA shares finished the day 0.5% lower.
Looking ahead, the ASX 200 is tipped to rise by 0.2% when the market opens on Tuesday according to the latest ASX futures.