ASX ends flat ahead of US rate decision
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The news: The Australian sharemarket edged higher to reach another record high after a mixed session that followed Wall Street’s declines ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s imminent monetary policy decision.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 rose just 0.02% to end at 8,142.1 despite six out of 11 sectors ending in red. It also hit another intraday high of 8,153.5.
The best performing sector was utilities, up 1.26%, followed by energy (0.69%). Origin Energy pulled the utilities sector as its shares gained 2.62% after Macquarie upgraded its rating on Australia’s top energy retailer and gas producer to ‘outperform’.
New Hope was the best performer across the ASX 200 after shares advanced 5.56% after Morgans upgraded the stock to 'add', noting that it now trades at a 15% to 20% discount to fair value.
NAB (1.13%) gained after Morgan Stanley analysts upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’, raised its price target to $38 from $34.2, and said it was their preferred major bank. The analysts also upgraded Westpac’s (0.27%) rating to ‘equal-weight’ and its price target to $29.70 from $26.50.
Woodside ended 0.66% higher after it announced it had signed a long-term deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Japan’s largest power company JERA.
Harvey Norman ended 0.21% higher despite announcing that it faced a class action over misleading or deceptive conduct linked to the sale of extended warranties.
Life360 rose 0.06% after it announced that it would join the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indices as part of the quarterly Russell US Index initial public offering additions.
Elsewhere, Synlait increased 1.24% after a volatile trading day which followed a successful vote from shareholders for its recapitalisation plan.
The worst performing sector was materials, down 0.54%, followed by healthcare (-0.43%). BHP (-1.06%), Fortescue (-0.46%) and Rio Tinto (-1.25%) all fell as iron ore prices continued to fall.
The Australian dollar is buying 67.63 US cents.
The context: All eyes will be on the US Fed overnight as it makes its next monetary policy decision which is widely expected to be its first cut since March 2020.
Thursday will see the latest Australian labour force data ahead of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy decision to be made next week.
