The Australian market started its last trading session of the week lower with US markets closed overnight for the Thanksgiving holiday, while Australian consumers are still hesitant to spend their hard earned dollars.
The S&P/ASX200 slipped 31.80 points, or 0.38%, to 8,412.50 points at 10.33am AEDT.
Ten of the 11 sectors were lower in early trade. Health care retreated 0.47%, the financial sector declined 0.46%, industrials was down 0.19% and materials edged back 0.04%.
Gold miner Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) advanced 0.79% to $2.54, while coal producer Stanmore Resources (ASX:SMR) dropped 1.21% to $3.27.
Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is a 90-day average volume outlier, with trading volumes up 569% over the period.
ANZ says Australian consumers are more cautious than ‘constrained’ in the wake of stage three tax cuts.
“If the degree of consumer caution were to ease, activity would pick up,” analysts Jack Chambers, Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes say in a research note.
“We have been factoring that outcome into our broader economic forecasts for some time. We see yearly growth in household consumption lifting to around 2% by the end of 2025 versus the 0.5% pace over the year to June 2024.
“The stage three tax cuts and lower inflation play a significant role here.”
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 & Unsplash
