ASX 200 rebounds from biggest fall in three months
Australian stocks rebounded from its worst fall in three months, with new jobs data and a surge in tech and financials lifting Thursday’s performance.
Business Breaking News
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Australian stocks rebounded from their worst fall in three months, with new jobs data and a surge in tech and financials lifting the share market’s performance on Thursday.
The S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 per cent, or 87.9 points, to 7019.6, while the All Ordinaries finished 1.2 per cent, or 86.8 points, higher to an index position of 7252.6.
At the close of the session, the Australian dollar was fetching 77.54 US cents.
The market gained some traction from jobs figures, but it was not able to recover from its 1.9 per cent fall from the previous day.
An appreciation in the US dollar after the release of Federal Reserve minutes weighed on the performance for local miners and energy companies.
“The Fed Reserve minutes handed down showed if the US economy continues to recover at a rapid pace, it might need to consider easing off some of its stimulus,” CommSec analyst Steven Daghlian said.
“What it did was push the US dollar higher, which then pushed the Aussie dollar lower and commodities down as well.”
Iluka Resources tumbled 4.4 per cent to $7.80, while South32 fell 2.7 per cent to $2.84.
BHP closed 1.05 per cent lower to $48.28 and Rio Tinto dipped 0.5 per cent to $123.26.
Tech stocks were the winner of the trading day, with buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay taking out top position. It rose 7.7 per cent to $93.30.
EML Payments rose 3.9 per cent to $2.91 following its more than 45 per cent slump in the prior trading session.
The EML sell-off was sparked by Ireland’s central bank launching an investigation into the company to see if it possibly breached anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
Despite the sugar hit to the tech sector, Nuix suffered the largest hit on the ASX and tanked 6.8 per cent to $3.41.
Attention was on the travel sector on Thursday after Qantas provided an update announcing further job cuts, a freeze on wages and cutbacks to commissions paid to travel agents booking international tickets.
The major airline jumped 3.5 per cent to $4.68, however travel stocks nosedived after the airline’s latest round of cost cuts, with Flight Centre slumping 2.4 per cent to $14.93 and Webjet 0.85 per cent lower to $4.66.
Mr Daghlian said both Flight Centre and Webjet had fallen as much as 6 per cent during the day because of Qantas’s major changes.
Banks all ended the day in positive territory, with Commonwealth Bank up 3.2 per cent to $98.40 and edging closer to $100 a share.
“CBA is fast approaching the $100 milestone,” Openmarkets chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said.
“It’s looking likely to test that level imminently, which will likely be a key psychological level for the stock, so some consolidation around the $100 mark wouldn’t surprise.”
Westpac closed 1.35 per cent higher to $25.52, while ANZ was up 2 per cent to $27.86 and NAB rose 1.6 per cent to $26.44.
Woolworths was 0.7 per cent up to $40.68 and Telstra ended the session up 1.2 per cent to $3.44.
Originally published as ASX 200 rebounds from biggest fall in three months
ASX slumps on US job figures
Banks, consumer discretionary and information technology stocks have slumped during a broad market sell-off on Monday.
Why Aussie dollar fall could cost homeowners
The chances of an interest rate cut in early 2025 are falling faster than the Aussie dollar, with experts saying the drop in our currency could cause the Reserve Bank to baulk at a cut.