Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) gained 5 cents, or 1.3%, to $3.92, after being up 2.3% at one point, as it was perceived as benefiting from the big outage at rival Optus. In Singapore, the shares of Optus’ owner Singapore Telecom were down 5.2% on the news, and finished down 4.8% for the day.
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 closed at its lowest point in 11 months on Wednesday, hampered by a weak lead-in from Wall Street, and its interest-rate worries.
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.
The Australian August job report blew expectations out of the water, with 64,900 jobs created in the month, well above the 23,000 anticipated by economists.
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.
The Australian share market or S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) is expected to open higher on Tuesday, according to SPI 200 futures contracts in Sydney.
