The ASX opened lower to end the week, following US markets down after Federal Reserve officials cautioned of a gradual and methodical approach to rate cuts.
The S&P/ASX 200 dipped 27.40 points, or 0.34%, to 7,999.60 points at 10:33am AEST.
Eight of the 11 sectors are lower today along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Information technology is the best performing sector, gaining 0.05% on Friday and 9.14% for the past five days. Industrials slid 0.61%, materials was down 0.39% and energy edged back 0.07%.
Over the last five days, the index has gained 0.36% and is currently 1.83% off of its 52-week high.
The expectation in recent weeks had been for a 50 basis point cut in September and 100 basis points of cuts before the end of the year.
Investors will be listening closely to comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole later today (US time). According to the Australian Financial Review, it is anticipated he will temper rate cut expectations.
The S&P/ASX 200 Volatility Index (VIX) climbed slightly by 0.66% to 12.01 points, despite crossing below its 50-day moving average. The index has lost 1.10% for the last five days, but has gained 6.90% over the last year to date.
Also known as the ‘fear’ index, the S&P/ASX 200 VIX (A-VIX) is a real-time volatility index that provides an insight into investor sentiment and expected levels of market volatility.
Also on the North American front, the Canadian Government is working to end an unprecedented railway shutdown after Canada’s two biggest rail networks — Canadian National Railway (TSX:CNR) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (TSX:CP) — locked out some 9,300 unionised workers earlier in the day.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX
