Australian investors are cautiously returning to market with the increased likelihood of yet another rate cut in the US sowing some seeds of hope that the Reserve Bank of Australia will finally follow suit.
The S&P/ASX 200 shifted up 37.80 points, or 0.46%, to 8,231.20 points at 10.33am AEDT on Thursday (14 November).
Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged, but is currently 1.78% below its 52-week high.
Nine of the 11 sectors climbed, led by utilities with a 0.48% gain. However, materials continues the week in the red, edging back a further 0.13%.
While US Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers edged higher in October, the increase was in line with expectations and had a minimal impact on Treasury yields.
The headline CPI rose 0.2% month over month to 2.6% in October, which was in line with the monthly rise over the past three months. Meanwhile core CPI, which excludes food and energy, climbed 3.3% over the last 12 months.
This drove the likelihood of a quarter point rate cut in December from just under 60% to over 80%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is yet to fall in line with several other countries that have already cut interest rates. At the November meeting, the RBA kept interest rates on hold at 4.35% pointing to underlying inflation remaining too high and an uncertain outlook.
Of the miners, lithium player Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) climbed 2.27% to $0.90, while gold producer Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU) dipped 2.27% to $0.32 and uranium explorer Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) slid 2.04% to $1.20.
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 & iStock
