ASX 200 rises 0.5% but falls just short of new record high
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The news: The Australian sharemarket fell just short of establishing a new closing high as all sectors except utilities rallied.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX200 briefly touched fresh record highs at 7,703.80 before retreating to finish up 0.5% to 7,698.7. The benchmark ended the day just shy of its record closing high of 7,699.40 which was reached on 2 February 2023.
The best performing sector was ARETs, up 1.55%, followed by consumer discretionary (1.29%), and IT (0.86%).
All large consumer discretionary companies were up including Wesfarmers (1.08%), Aristocrat Leisure (1.05%), The Lottery Corporations (1.19%), JB Hi-Fi (0.85%), and Harvey Norman (4.43%). Harvey Norman rallied despite its mixed earnings result that saw the company’s profit slump but cut its interim dividend less than analyst expectations.
While data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed retail sales bounced back in January, following a slide in December, the underlying trend was that sales were flatlining.
One of the best performing stocks was Ramsay Health Care that gained 7.05% after earnings beat analyst expectations. Star Entertainment rose 7.29% after the company swung to profit for the first half of the financial year.
Utilities was the worst performing sector, down 0.33%, and was the only sector to record a loss on Thursday.
The Australian dollar is higher buying US65.16 cents.
The context: Friday will see the release of the US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, that could heavily shape expectations for the timing of an interest rate cut.
In the local market, CoreLogic will release its home value index on Friday while Life360 posts results.
