All Ords notches record close despite drag from big miners
The All Ordinaries index has ended the session higher than at anytime in its history.
The local sharemarket jumped to a fresh 12-year closing high on Wednesday amid speculation of deeper RBA rate cuts and following a rally on Wall Street overnight.
At the close of trade, the ASX benchmark S&P/ASX200 had gained 52.078 points, or 0.77 per cent to 6776.699 points. The broader All Ordinaries index had lifted 49.918 points, or 0.73 per cent, to an all-time closing high of 6862.398 points.
The ASX 200 is now 1 per cent off hitting an all-time high.
The gains came after the major US indices all gained more than half-a-percent overnight and after Westpac said it now predicts the RBA will cut the cash rate to 0.75pc in October and 0.5pc in February.
“It was a solid day for our market,” said CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian.
“There are only 5 days of trade left now in July and we are up more than 2 per cent this month so there’s a pretty good chance that this will be the 7th consecutive month of gains for our market.
“It’s not really because the economy is doing really well, it has a lot more to do with the very low interest rate we are seeing now globally at the moment which is seeing money flow into the sharemarket.”
The lift locally also followed the IMF cutting its growth expectations overnight, US Congress raising its debt ceiling and Boris Johnston being announced as the new prime minister in the UK.
The major miners lowered after Brazilian miner Vale received approvals to partially restart production at its Brucutu mine, after operations were halted in the wake of the fatal tailings dam disaster in January this year.
BHP lowered 0.6 per cent to $41.33 while Rio Tinto lost 2.2 per cent to $100.51. Fortescue fell 0.6 per cent to $8.73.
In financials, ANZ rose 0.8 per cent to $27.65 while Commonwealth Bank gained 1 per cent to $82.35. Westpac lifted 1.7 per cent to $28.39 while NAB climbed 1.7 per cent to $28.33.
Meanwhile Coles added 1.1 per cent to $13.98 after it signed up technology services provider Accenture to help with its technology transformation.
Rival Woolworths put on 0.8 per cent to $34.93.
Elsewhere, gold miner St Barbara slid 2.8 per cent to $3.46 after it posted a drop in gold production for the June quarter.
Meanwhile Regis Resources plunged 12.2 per cent to $5.68 following numerous analyst downgrades.
Evolution Mining fell 1 per cent to $4.96 after it said gold production was weaker than the prior year in an update to the market.
Iluka Resources tumbled 10 per cent to $9.99 following a disappointing second quarter production report, which revealed an 11 per cent fall in mineral sands output year-on-year.
The energy sector was higher after oil prices rose overnight amid rising tensions in the Middle East, after the US said it may have taken down a second Iranian drone over of the Strait of Hormuz last week.
Santos put on 0.4 per cent to $7.00 while Woodside Petroleum added 0.7 per cent to $34.17. Origin Energy made 0.8 per cent to $7.75 while Oil Search ticked up 0.8 per cent to $7.00.
The Australian dollar was trading firmly lower at US69.86 cents in late trade.