ASX rallies as RBA cuts rates

The news: The Australian sharemarket rallied as investors cheered the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates to 3.85%, with the Commonwealth Bank closing at a fresh record.

The benchmark ASX 200 gained 0.58% to end at 8,343.3, with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in the green.

Biggest movers:

• Tech sector (2.3%) — Was the best performing, with TechnologyOne (+11.33%) rallying on its 33% year-on-year lift in profit and dividend hike.
• Big banks — All rallied in anticipation of the rate cut with ANZ (+1.27%) leading the pack, followed by NAB (+1%), Westpac (+0.41%) and CBA (+0.62%). CBA’s shares closed at a record high. All four banks also reduced their respective variable home loan interest rates by 25 basis points to match the RBA's cut.
• Fisher & Paykel (-1.97%) — UBS downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’.
• Kogan (-8.85%) — Reported a sharp fall in adjusted EBITDA after pumping capital into Mighty Ape due to issues with its technology upgrade.

Other news:

• EOS (6.76%) — Continued a rally from Monday after it announced it had sealed a $53 million order for its counter drone system.
• Brazilian Rare Earths (1.06%) — Signed an agreement with Brazilian technology hub provider SENAI CIMATEC to cover a majority of costs of a new bench-scale laboratory and pilot plant.
• Worley (0.31%) — Reaffirmed its outlook for full-year earnings growth as the business continues to pick up new work in the resources sector.
• Rio Tinto (-0.2%) — Will form a joint venture with Chile’s state-owned Corporacion Nacional Del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) to develop and operate a lithium project at Salar de Maricunga.
• Dubber (-44.74%) — The embattled voice recording tech company announced its subsidiary has lost a contract with UK telecommunications giant VirginMedia O2.