The Australian stock market has given up all of the gains that it had made in 2023, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) losing 56.6 points, or 0.8%, on Monday to 6,844.1, with resources weakness the major culprit. That puts the index in the red by 2.8% for the year.
The Australian sharemarket rebounded from 11-month lows on Thursday, notching a small gain as markets braced for the official US jobs data on Friday night Australian time.
The Australian sharemarket closed at its lowest point in 11 months on Wednesday, hampered by a weak lead-in from Wall Street, and its interest-rate worries.
The Australia share market retreated to a six-month low on Tuesday, as global markets felt the pressure from surging bond yields – despite, in Australia’s case, the Reserve Bank leaving the official cash rate on hold at 4.1 per cent, for a fifth straight month.
It was relatively quiet on the ASX on Monday with traders eyeing the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest interest-rate decision, to be announced today (and a public holiday in most states dampening activity further).
The local share market fell for a second straight day on Tuesday, ahead of a flurry of central bank meetings, and following the release of a set of minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia that were taken as implying that the local central bank is considered raising rates.
The local share market started the week lower, ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, which begins on Tuesday.
Here’s today’s The Match Out report from Market Matters’ James Gerrish. Key point: the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) finished down +0.74% to 7153.90.
The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) ended mostly flat on Friday. Here’s some of the key points you missed from ASX 200 trading this week.