The ASX 200 was clobbered on Thursday, falling more than 1% as broad-based selling left just 20% of the main board in positive territory. However, the market did recover 77 points from its intraday low, trimming around 45% of the day’s decline by the close. Yesterday was the local market’s third consecutive decline, with a fourth likely today, and its largest daily fall in more than three months.
The ASX 200 extended September's pullback by another -0.1% on Wednesday despite a barnstorming session for the heavyweight copper miners - BHP Group (+3.3%), Sandfire (+2%) and RIO (+1.9%). However, broad-based weakness, which saw over 60% of the main board retreat, with standout selling in the CBA (-2.5%) enough to drag the index under 8900. Another strong move in oil prices, which rallied over 2% during local trade, was enough to keep buyers on the sidelines as it increasingly feels like the US has lost control of events in the Straits of Hormuz. We defer back to a comment in yesterday's report:
September is living up to its seasonally weak reputation, with the ASX 200 falling another 1% on Tuesday to close at a fresh six-week low. Local stocks endured their worst session in three months as selling swept across the market, as more than 65% of the main board closed lower, with the banks doing the most damage, accounting for roughly half of the index’s decline.
The ASX 200 endured a choppy Monday before closing +0.1% higher, with the broader market remaining soft, but gains from heavyweights BHP, CBA and Woodside were enough to nudge the index into positive territory. The weekend's ongoing volatility in the Strait of Hormuz helped the energy sector (+1.8%) dominate the winners' enclosure. In comparison, the ASX tech sector fell (-2.6%) as tech money moved from software stocks into semiconductors, which the ASX basically has none of.
Bond markets and central banks are back in focus after Friday night's August US jobs report came in far stronger than expected, with nonfarm payrolls rising by 162,000—more than triple consensus forecasts—while unemployment held steady at 4.1%. Labour-force participation also improved, and prior months were revised higher, reinforcing signs that the jobs market has rebounded from its early-summer softness, shifting attention firmly to this week’s CPI (inflation) data, with the resilient labour market increasing the prospect of a Fed rate hike at next week's meeting.
The ASX 200 bounced +0.5% on Thursday, regaining some of the previous session's steep losses as the heavyweight banks, ably supported by the miners, combined to lift the index, not a bad performance with BHP, Coles, Amco and Woodside all trading ex-dividend. To put the banks’ strength into perspective, the Big Four alone accounted for ~50% of the market’s advance on the day.
The ASX 200 was clobbered 1.0% on Wednesday as broad-based selling rolled through the local bourse as surging global bond yields continued to dominate the financial press. More than 70% of the main board retreated, with the tech (-3.4%) and materials (-3.1%) vying for the wooden spoon as risk-off sentiment was evident across the market - the defensive-oriented consumer staples (+0.8%) were not surprisingly the best-performing sector.
The ASX 200 bounced strongly from its early morning low on Tuesday, recovering ~80% of its initial drop to end the session down just -0.1%. A solid performance in our opinion, considering the negative lead from global bonds as oil prices continued to climb on renewed tensions in the Middle East.
The ASX 200 recovered impressively from an early sell-off to finish the final session of August down just -0.2%, a better outcome than we expected, with the Big Four banks adding around 30 points to the index. Interestingly, while resources retreated following Fed Chair Warsh’s hawkish comments on Friday and renewed tensions between the US and Iran, there was little evidence of broad-based selling.
Two weeks ago, Scott Bessent emerged as one of the most interventionist US Treasury secretaries in decades, in an attempt to stem the increasing burden of the rise in US borrowing costs.
The ASX 200 extended September's pullback by another -0.1% on Wednesday despite a barnstorming session for the heavyweight copper miners - BHP Group (+3.3%), Sandfire (+2%) and RIO (+1.9%). However, broad-based weakness, which saw over 60% of the main board retreat, with standout selling in the CBA (-2.5%) enough to drag the index under 8900. Another strong move in oil prices, which rallied over 2% during local trade, was enough to keep buyers on the sidelines as it increasingly feels like the US has lost control of events in the Straits of Hormuz. We defer back to a comment in yesterday's report:
September is living up to its seasonally weak reputation, with the ASX 200 falling another 1% on Tuesday to close at a fresh six-week low. Local stocks endured their worst session in three months as selling swept across the market, as more than 65% of the main board closed lower, with the banks doing the most damage, accounting for roughly half of the index’s decline.
The ASX 200 endured a choppy Monday before closing +0.1% higher, with the broader market remaining soft, but gains from heavyweights BHP, CBA and Woodside were enough to nudge the index into positive territory. The weekend's ongoing volatility in the Strait of Hormuz helped the energy sector (+1.8%) dominate the winners' enclosure. In comparison, the ASX tech sector fell (-2.6%) as tech money moved from software stocks into semiconductors, which the ASX basically has none of.
Bond markets and central banks are back in focus after Friday night's August US jobs report came in far stronger than expected, with nonfarm payrolls rising by 162,000—more than triple consensus forecasts—while unemployment held steady at 4.1%. Labour-force participation also improved, and prior months were revised higher, reinforcing signs that the jobs market has rebounded from its early-summer softness, shifting attention firmly to this week’s CPI (inflation) data, with the resilient labour market increasing the prospect of a Fed rate hike at next week's meeting.
The ASX 200 bounced +0.5% on Thursday, regaining some of the previous session's steep losses as the heavyweight banks, ably supported by the miners, combined to lift the index, not a bad performance with BHP, Coles, Amco and Woodside all trading ex-dividend. To put the banks’ strength into perspective, the Big Four alone accounted for ~50% of the market’s advance on the day.
The ASX 200 was clobbered 1.0% on Wednesday as broad-based selling rolled through the local bourse as surging global bond yields continued to dominate the financial press. More than 70% of the main board retreated, with the tech (-3.4%) and materials (-3.1%) vying for the wooden spoon as risk-off sentiment was evident across the market - the defensive-oriented consumer staples (+0.8%) were not surprisingly the best-performing sector.
The ASX 200 bounced strongly from its early morning low on Tuesday, recovering ~80% of its initial drop to end the session down just -0.1%. A solid performance in our opinion, considering the negative lead from global bonds as oil prices continued to climb on renewed tensions in the Middle East.
The ASX 200 recovered impressively from an early sell-off to finish the final session of August down just -0.2%, a better outcome than we expected, with the Big Four banks adding around 30 points to the index. Interestingly, while resources retreated following Fed Chair Warsh’s hawkish comments on Friday and renewed tensions between the US and Iran, there was little evidence of broad-based selling.
Two weeks ago, Scott Bessent emerged as one of the most interventionist US Treasury secretaries in decades, in an attempt to stem the increasing burden of the rise in US borrowing costs.
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