ASX closes lower as miners jump on China stimulus

Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day

The numbers

The sharemarket has closed slightly lower, with big miners rallying thanks to the announcement of a Chinese stimulus package, while bank shares and consumer stocks dropped. The ASX fell 10.9 points, or 0.1 per cent to 8,142.0 points, as the Reserve Bank announced it would leave the cash rate unchanged. The Australian dollar rose to 68.69 US cents during the day, its highest level in 2024, after the Reserve said it remained “resolute” in its determination to get inflation back into its target band.

Wall Street is higher to kick off its week. Credit: AP

The lifters

Mining shares rallied, with Rio Tinto (up 3.7 per cent), BHP (up 3.3 per cent) and Fortescue (up 1.8 per cent) all rising after China announced stimulus measures to boost its economy. Mineral Resources (up 6.5 per cent) was the strongest performer among the large caps, followed by Whitehaven Coal (up 6 per cent) and Pilbara Minerals (up 4.7 per cent).

Cettire shares surged 79 per cent after the controversial luxury fashion retailer finally released audited full-year accounts. The group won its battle with the auditors from Grant Thornton over whether it should be recognised as the principal, which means it controls the entire sale between the luxury goods distributors and Cettire’s customers and can claim the gross amount of sales generated from sales transaction as its revenue. The auditor had questioned whether it was actually acting as an agent, which would have reduced its revenue but not earnings.

The laggards

The big four banks all fell, with Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank declining by 3 per cent, Westpac losing 2.4 per cent and ANZ Bank sliding by 1.9 per cent.

Tabcorp dropped 5.4 per cent while Coles (down 3 per cent) and Woolworths (down 2.9 per cent) fell again, as analysts and investors assessed the potential impact of the competition watchdog’s Monday announcement it was suing the supermarket giants for “misleading” consumers.

Shares in pokies-maker Light & Wonder plunged 18.4 per cent after Aristocrat won an injunction that will halt the rollout of a popular Light & Wonder game in the US.

Credit: IG

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The lowdown

Portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners, Jun Bei Liu, said the announcement of a stimulus package in China had sparked hopes that commodity prices had bottomed, buoying mining shares. The stimulus measures – which Liu described as “massive” – included cuts to banks’ reserve requirements and moves to support the property market.

“People are just hoping that we’ve now seen the bottom in commodity prices,” Liu said.

On supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles, Liu said further price competition was likely after the ACCC’s court case. “It’s very hard to see supermarkets defending their margins,” Liu said.

In keeping the cash rate on hold at 4.35 per cent, the RBA reiterated that it did not expect to cut Australian interest rates in the short-term.

ANZ’s chief economist Adam Boyton said the bank’s view remained unchanged, and it expected the first cut in the cash rate in February next year.

“Risks around the timing of the rate cut cycle currently appear skewed toward a later start. We do not expect the board to act on its tightening bias, which we judge to not be quite as strong as in August,” Boyton said.

Tweet of the day

Overnight, Tesla led the way on Wall Street with a gain of 4.9 per cent. The maker of electric vehicles has clawed back all its sharp losses from earlier in the year. It was down as much as 42 per cent at one point in April, when it was cutting prices on its cars to boost weak sales.

Financial markets have been romping higher after the Federal Reserve last week cut its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years by an unusually large amount. The hope is that as it continues to cut interest rates, the boost given to the US economy through lower rates for car loans, mortgages and other borrowing will help it avoid a recession.

In stock markets abroad, indexes held mostly steady in Europe after preliminary data suggested business activity in the euro zone is weaker than economists expected. Germany’s DAX rose 0.7 per cent, while the French CAC 40 rose 0.1 per cent.

Quote of the day

“We’ve considered in detail whether our current settings are sufficiently restrictive and judged that based on what we know at the moment, rates will remain on hold for the time being,” said RBA governor Michele Bullock, as the bank left the cash rate on hold.

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With AP

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