The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 47.9 points, or 0.57%, at 8,447 points setting a new 20-day high following the release of data in Australia showing a slowdown in inflation.
Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged, but is currently 0.79% below its 52-week high.
All 11 sectors closed higher with utilities the top performer, rallying 2.04% on Wednesday (29 January) and advancing 0.14% over the past five days. Energy rose 0.79% and industrials was up 0.64% by the closing bell.
Trimmed mean inflation printed at 0.5% quarter-over-quarter in the final quarter of 2024, which was in line with ANZ’s forecast.
The annual rate came in below the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 3.4% year-over-year prediction after falling 0.3 of a percentage point to 3.2%.
“We think this will be enough for the RBA to cut the cash rate by 25bp at its February meeting,” ANZ Senior Economist Catherine Birch says.
“The six-month annualised rate of trimmed mean inflation decreased to 2.7%, close to the middle of the RBA’s target band.”
Quarterly services inflation was the lowest since the second quarter of 2022 at 0.7% quarter-over-quarter.
Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) gained 8.6% to $1.20 on a strengthening gold price, while uranium miners Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) and Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) held onto some of their early gains to close up 6.91% and 5.63%, respectively.
However, South32 (ASX:S32) slid 2.37% to $3.29. Coal producer Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) remained in the bottom five with a 2.27% retreat to $0.65, as did aluminium major Alcoa (ASX:AAI), which closed down 1.81% at $55.41.
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 & Reserve Bank of Australia
