ASX 200 hits 8,092 points at Wednesday’s close, another record high

The Aussie sharemarket marked another record high as investors responded positively to the news that inflation came in below expectations.

The Aussie sharemarket has marked another record high as investors responded positively to the news that inflation came in below expectations.

The benchmark ASX200 soared by 139.10 points, or 1.75 per cent, to 8,092.30 at the close on Wednesday, making it the best day since November 11, 2022.

The All Ordinaries saw a strong result on Wednesday, gaining 1.76 per cent.

All 11 sectors were in the green, with tech seeing the strongest gains with 2.5.

Energy, energy, miners and banks also fared well.

The top performing stocks in this index are Strike Energy Ltd and Coronado Global Resources Inc saw the highest gains with 6.58 per cent and 6.27 per cent respectively.

The ASX hit another record high on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Wesfarmers rose 2.8 per cent to a record high $73.65, while Xero gained 2.9 per cent.

Woodside rose 2.7 per cent and GPT added 4.8 per cent.

In banking, CBA rose 1.1 per cent to a record high close of $137.49.

The strong result comes as the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1 per cent in the second quarter of 2024 on Wednesday.

The latest figures resulted in the annual headline inflation to 3.8 per cent, above the March quarter figure of 3.6 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to consider the data when its board meets on Monday and Tuesday to discuss if the official cash rate should go up, down or stay on hold.

Bank of Queensland Chief Economist Peter Munckton said it was very likely the RBA wouldn’t change the cash rate at its August meeting.

“Slowing new orders growth is not a good sign for the second half of the year although activity will be helped by the improvement of consumer real disposable income growth,” Mr Munckton said.

“The labour market is still historically strong although forward indicators point to slowing in coming months.

“Consumer and business inflation expectations have been declining.”

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos JULY 18, 2024: The Board at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Mr Munckton said he expected the US Federal Reserve would be likely to reduce the cash rate at its September meeting.

“Commodity prices are declining, a negative for the local economy but a positive for lower inflation,” he said.

“By word and deed the RBA clearly would prefer not to raise the cash rate any further.”

The world’s second biggest miner by market value, Rio Tinto, jumped 2.5 per cent after its first half results.

They were impacted by commodity price movements,” she said.

“Overall, we saw lower commodity prices impacting its underlying EBITDA by $200m but copper prices were actually higher offsetting some of the falls in iron ore and aluminium.

“While inflation has eased a little bit, it’s still impacted Rio’s earnings however this was partially offset by lower energy prices.

Rio Tinto stated growing its copper segment is a priority for the company.

The interim dividend is US$1.77 per share to be paid out on September 26.

CommSec market analyst Laura Besarati said the results were quite mixed overall but “in line” with market expectations.

Overseas, the Bank of Japan announced it was reducing its scheduled monthly bond buying program by about JPY400 billion each quarter.

It comes as the major bank raised its short-term target rate to 0.25 per cent from 0 per cent to 0.1 per cent.

The Dow index also gained 0.5 per cent higher at the close on Thursday, while tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.3 per cent and the S & P 500 lost 0.5 per cent

The Aussie dollar is trading near US64.97c at the time of publication.

Originally published as ASX 200 hits 8,092 points at Wednesday’s close, another record high