ASX closes at record high as investors await Fed decision

Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day.

The numbers

The Australian sharemarket closed at a record high on Tuesday as traders bet the US Federal Reserve would begin its monetary policy easing cycle this week by slashing 50 basis points off the current cash rate.

Wall Street is eagerly awaiting the Fed’s interest rate decision this week.Credit: Bloomberg

The S&P/ASX 200 added 19.3 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 8140.9 at the close. While all 11 sectors rose, the gains were fairly muted across the board, with tech stocks (up 1 per cent) finishing the strongest.

The lifters

The local tech sector was buoyed by Xero’s announcement it was acquiring global cloud reporting, insights and analytics company Syft Analytics for up to $US70 million ($104 million). Xero added 2.6 per cent at the close to cement itself as among the top large-cap advancers.

Credit: IG Markets

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Telix Pharmaceuticals (up 3.8 per cent) recorded the strongest gains, followed by Pro Medicus (up 3.6 per cent) and GQG Partners (up 3.6 per cent).

Platinum Asset Management soared 12.6 per cent after confirming Regal Partners had put forward a buyout bid. Under the proposed deal, Platinum’s shareholders would receive 0.274 Regal shares and a dividend of 24¢.

The laggards

While no sector fell, miners (up 0.1 per cent) were the weakest on the local bourse after the sector was weighed down by a weak Chinese economy, as well as rare earth mining companies recording some of the deepest losses.

Harvey Norman (down 2 per cent) was the worst-performing large-cap stock, followed by Evolution Mining (down 2 per cent), Newmont (down 1.8 per cent) and Lynas Rare Earths (down 1.2 per cent).

The lowdown

The index hit a record 8148.8 points just after 11am before retreating. Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow and S&P 500 reset records, climbing 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively, as investors bid up bets the Fed will cut interest rates by 50 basis points this week. The market, and economists, have fully priced in a cut of at least 25 basis points.

The probability of a 50 basis point cut is 67 per cent, according to CME Futures data, up from 50 per cent on Friday and 25 per cent a month ago. The probability of a 25 basis point cut has fallen to 33 per cent, down from 50 per cent on Friday and 75 per cent a month ago.

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.5 per cent as big technology stocks and other market superstars gave back a bit of their big gains from recent years. Apple fell after a soft assessment of pre-order sales of the new iPhone 16 series from Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“What we saw happen was the Greens party, who say they care about young people, who say they care about housing – look at them scurrying away from what they’ve just done – voting, not just with Peter Dutton and the Coalition, but with Senator Pauline Hanson and One Nation,” said Murray Watt after the Senate defeated the government’s housing bill.

“We’ve had the extreme right of Australian politics and the extreme left of Australian politics pair up. For what purpose? To stop young Australians from being able to buy a home.”

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With AP

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