ASX flat despite RBA's shock move

Yahoo

7 hours ago

Australia's sharemarket closed flat on Tuesday despite the Reserve Bank shocking markets by holding the official cash rate at 3.85 per cent and more details emerging from Donald Trump's tariff plans.
The benchmark ASX 200 index closed at 8590.7 just 1.4 points higher, or 0.02 per cent, on a seesawing day of trading.
The broader All Ordinaries also eked out a tiny gain, up 2.30 points or 0.03 per cent.
The Australian dollar jumped on higher interest rates and is now buying 65.33 US cents.
On a mixed day of trading, just four sectors were higher, with seven finishing in the red. The gains were led by telecommunications, the major banks and consumer discretionary stocks.
Three of the big four banks finished higher with CBA gaining 0.83 per cent to close at $179.28, NAB gained 0.64 per cent to $39.29 and ANZ finished in the green up 0.27 per cent to $30.21.
Westpac was the outlier, slipping just 0.03 per cent to $33.47 to be the only major bank to end in the red.
Wesfarmers gained 0.53 per cent to $83.49, Aristocrat Leisure gained 0.30 per cent to $67.84 and Eagers Automotive jumped 0.64 per cent to $18.73.
Going against market expectations, the RBA held the official cash rate at 3.85 per cent, although left the door open for future rate cuts.
VanEck head of investments and capital markets Russel Chesler said markets seemed to be throwing caution to the wind with their expectations.
'A rate cut is generally good for markets, as it reduces the cost of capital and thus encourages business growth – particularly for small caps, which are typically more leveraged,' he said.
'The additional rate easing, while mild, also suggests business input costs should improve, which is beneficial for mid and small caps that tend to have lower pricing power.
'However, the tight labour market should not be overlooked, with wages continuing to put downward pressure on profits.'
Australia's market followed a weak lead in from Wall Street overnight after US President Donald Trump began sending letters to key trading partners, including Japan and South Korea who will both face 25 per cent tariff rates.
In total 14 letters were sent with Mr Trump sharing screenshots of signed form letters dictating new tariff rates to the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos, Myanmar, Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia and Thailand.
Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda called it a 'quick punch in the guts' as the July 9 US trade deal deadline approaches.
'Market participants were anticipating a flurry of trade deals with some trading partners and a handful of letters announcing new tariff rates on others,' he wrote in an economic note.
'So far, only the letters have been published, and their contents made investors' stomachs sink.'
In company news, shares in DigitalX soared 34.15 per cent to $0.11 after the digital asset manager announced a $20.7m strategic investment to expand its bitcoin-focused strategy.
Pizza maker Domino's also finished in the green up 2.39 per cent to $18.45 after broker Morgans revealed a buy rating for the business stating 'we think the risk reward looks attractive from here.'
It comes after shares have fallen by 47 per cent over the last 12 months, including a more than 11 per cent drop last week after chief executive Mark Van Dyck announced plans to leave his role just before Christmas.
Anti-drone technology company DroneShield also jumped 4.07 per cent to $2.56 after telling the market it had been awarded an $11.7m follow-on research and development contract by a Five Eyes Department of Defence.
This follows the completion of a $9.9m contract with the same defence customer back in July 2023.