Gold has marked yet another record, but the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) was not as fortunate, giving back some of its record gains.
The safehaven metal is getting very close to the US$2,700-an-ounce mark, fetching around US$2,698 ($4,029) at the moment. On Wednesday (16 October) it reached a new record in Australian dollar terms when it punched through $4,000 an ounce.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 retreated 40.10 points to 8,315.80 points at 10.30am AEDT after setting a new 52-week high.
The descent came on the back of positive movement in job market data, which dampened expectations of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.23% and is currently 0.82% off of its 52-week high.
All but one of the 11 sectors were in the red, dragged lower by utilities which edged back 1.89%, followed by materials with a 0.98% decline.
Among the bottom performing mining stocks was aluminium major Alcoa (ASX:AAI), which slid 8.92% to $60.19, and metallurgical coal producer Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN), which dipped 3.28% to $1.11.
Oil and gas producer Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) was in the top five gainers with a 3.28% rise to $1.26.
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: iStock
