With US tariffs now in effect on Mexico and Canada and the two countries plus China announcing retaliatory tariffs, equities remain under pressure.
The first per capita quarterly increase in Australia’s GDP since Q4 2022 was also not enough to lift the ASX out of the red. GDP advanced 0.6% quarter-over-quarter in Q4 and was up 0.1% per capita. This was in line with market consensus.
In 2024, GDP climbed to 1.3% in Q4, up from 0.8% in the prior quarter.
The S&P/ASX 200 followed Wall Street down, retreating a further 57 points, or 0.7%, to 8,141.1 points by the close of trade today (5 March) to set a new 20-day low.
The index has lost 1.21% over the last five days.
Nine of the 11 sectors were dragged lower. Energy slipped 1.61%, the financial sector was down 1.25%, industrials dropped 1.03% and materials edged back 0.03%.
Utilities and information technology were the outliers, gaining 0.18 and 0.06% respectively.
The gold miners were in high demand on Wednesday, with West African Resources (ASX:WAF) running up 6.5% to $1.89 and Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) rising 5.15% to $1.23.
ANZ says the prospect of a broader tariff war helped drive gold prices higher, with bullion climbing above US$2,915 ($4,664) an ounce as Beijing announced 15% duties on some American farm goods, including cotton.
State Street Global Advisors predicts the price of the safehaven metal will hit US$3,000 and ounce very soon.
“Gold prices appear to be consolidating between the higher end of our 2025 base case range (50% probability) of US$2,600-2,900/oz and the lower end of our bull case range (30% probability) of US$2,900-3,100/oz,” the asset manager says in its March Gold Monitor Report.
“We continue to lean towards a price break above US$3,000/oz over the next one to four months.”
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
