ASX 200 hits record high of 7703.8 in Thursday trading

The ASX surged to a near record high on Thursday after soft inflation and retail data suggested an end to the RBA’s rate hiking cycle.

The Australian sharemarket surged to a near record high on Thursday as investors expressed confidence the Reserve Bank of Australia had likely ended its rate hiking cycle.

Weaker-than-expected inflation data from Wednesday and a stall in retail turnover announced by the ABS on Thursday pushed the benchmark ASX 200 to a near record high of 7698.7 at the close of trade, a 0.5 per cent gain.

The broader All Ordinaries index gained 42.4 points, or 0.54 per cent, to hit 7959.5 while Australia’s technology companies surged 1.47 per cent, or 44.6 points, to close at 3074.5.

The dollar lifted 0.35 per cent by the closing bell to buy US65.18 cents.

Ten of 11 industry sectors ended in the green on Thursday, with only utilities falling of 0.33 per cent.

Real estate, discretionary and tech stocks were the star performers, gaining 1.73 per cent, 1.29 per cent and 0.86 per cent, respectively.

Wednesday’s inflation numbers showed consumer price growth holding steady at 3.4 per cent and eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said the money markets now expected an interest rate cut to follow.

Australian stocks lifted on February 29, 2024. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“Much of the good news came from yesterday’s inflation print which was slightly weaker than expected,” he said.

“And then you had retail sales data today that rose but lacked any real oompf, still pretty weak.

“It shows the impact we have had from the RBA’s tightening cycle is having the effect on consumers.

“Consumers are beginning to show signs of struggling a little bit, after we have seen a lot of resilience and that adds quite a lot of weight to the view that the Reserve Bank is clearly done with hiking interest rates.

“It is just now a question of when we are going to get that first cut.”

Bitcoin fever has also gripped traders, with the crypto asset hitting a record high of $98,000.

“This feels like the start rather than the end for crypto assets, even as Bitcoin closes in on its all-time high in US dollars,” Mr Gilbert said.

Retailer Harvey Norman reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday, pushing the stock higher. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

“We’re seeing huge interest in Bitcoin ETFs, which are garnering substantial trading volumes and billions of dollars of inflows.”

In corporate news, Harvey Norman jumped 4.4 per cent to close at $4.95 on better than expected earnings.

The company reported an before-tax profit of $289m for the FY24 half-year.

Ramsay Health Care boomed 7.2 per cent to hit $54.91 after the company announced a six-month net profit of $758.5m.

Mining company South32 rose 4.6 per cent after it announced a potential sale of its NSW metallurgical coal business to a Chinese investment group for $2.5bn.

South32 CEO Graham Kerr said the proposed transaction formed part of the company’s strategy to “reshape” its portfolio towards “commodities critical in the transition to a low-carbon future”.

The worst performer on the benchmark index was Chalice Mining, which slumped 10.3 per cent.

Originally published as ASX 200 hits record high of 7703.8 in Thursday trading