ASX 200 drops 0.47%, Aussie dollar steady

The news: The ASX 200 lost 0.47% to close at 7,196.60 on Tuesday, while the All Ordinaries lost 0.45%. The Aussie dollar held steady at around 64.3 US cents.

The numbers: Materials were the biggest loser, shedding 0.77%. Weaker iron ore prices saw BHP, FMG and Rio Tinto lose 1.44%, 1.08% and 0.65% respectively. Energy bucked the trend to finish 0.21% higher, with New Hope finishing 2.11% higher on the back of a bumper profit, alongside positive gains for coal miners Whitehaven and Yancoal. IT stocks stabilised after yesterday’s losses, losing 0.06%, with WiseTech Global gaining 0.70% to $67.93. The Big Four banks were all down, with financials finishing 0.40% lower as investors wait for global central banks to embark on their rate-setting cycles.

The context: The Australian sharemarket started lower on Tuesday after major US indices barely changed ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting. Much hangs on central bank policy meeting, which comes ahead of meetings for the Bank of England and Sweden’s Riksbank, followed by the Bank of Japan on Friday. The Reserve Bank of Australia minutes revealed it was on a knife-edge as to whether to hold or hike rates at its September meeting as it said monetary policy has not yet caught up to the data it relies on for its decisions.