Australia stock market finished session steep lower on Tuesday, 06 June 2023, with shares in financials, realty, healthcare, and consumer-related sector being notable losers after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates today and warned that inflation still remained too high in the country and that more policy tightening may still be in order this year. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board members decided to hike the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by another 25 bps to 4.10% at its June policy meeting, a hawkish surprise once again.The hike, which follows an unexpected raise in May, puts interest rates above 4% for the first time in nearly 12 years.
At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index declined 86.67 points, or 1.2%, to 7,129.60. The broader All Ordinaries index fell 81.29 points, or 1.1%, to 7319.90.
Total 10 of 11 sectors were lower along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Utilities was the best performing sector, gaining +0.54%. Consumer discretionary was the worst performing sector, falling 2.16%, followed by industrials (down 1.56%), financial (down 1.46%), and healthcare (down 1.39%) sectors.
The top performing stocks in the S&P/ASX 200 Index were WHITEHAVEN CO and NEP HOPE CORP, up 4.38% and 3.5% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in S&P/ASX200 index were ASX and BRAINCHIP HOLDINGS, down 10.22% and 8.70% respectively.
Consumer-related stocks declined after the Reserve Bank pushed up interest rates to the highest level in more than a decade. Wesfarmers (down 1.8%), Aristocrat Leisure (down 2.3%) and IDP Education (down 2%) all closed down.
Industrial stocks also dropped, with Qantas (down 3.5%) and Computershare (down 2.6%) being falling over 2%.
Utilities stocks closed higher, with Origin Energy (up 0.3%), AGL (up 1.3%) and Mercury NZ (up 2.2%) all lifting, as investors sought safety in their annuity-style earnings amid the rate rise.
Coal miners Whitehaven (up 4.4%) and Yancoal (up 4.1%) advanced, along with a modest lift for iron ore and steel players such as Fortescue (up 0.3%) and BlueScope (up 0.3%) following a 0.7% rise in iron ore prices.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News