ASX drops 0.95% after week of record highs
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The news: The Australian sharemarket started the week lower following last week’s record highs as miners and utilities took hits. The benchmark ASX 200 slipped 0.95% to 7,625.9, with 10 out of the 11 sectors finishing in the red.
The numbers: Materials led losses, down 2.66%, followed by utilities (-1.46%), and consumer discretionary (-0.88%). Only healthcare stocks rallied with a small 0.14% gain.
Mining giants all fell with BHP, Rio Tinto, South32, Northern Star Resources and Fortescue losing 2.5%-3.2%. However, the bottom-performing stock was gold miner Silver Lake Resources, which was down 11.86% by end of day following its merger announcement with Red 5 — which, on the other hand, gained 3%.
Liontown Resources was the second-worst performer today, sinking 8.21%.
The Aussie dollar was lower and buying 65.09 US cents at 4:28pm AEDT.
The context: The ASX 200’s lower start to the week comes after it outperformed US stocks last week, with investors potentially taking profits. All eyes will be in the RBA tomorrow as it announces its first monetary policy decision of 2024. As US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank needed to see more movement towards its 2% inflation target before cutting rates, it is likely the RBA will leave rates unchanged.
Tomorrow will also see parliament’s first sitting week of the year with Stage 3 tax cut legislation to be introduced.
Region Group will announce its half year results tomorrow too.
