Banks, energy stocks lift Australian shares as inflation data keeps rate-cut bets intact
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.2% to 8,414.80, as of 0034 GMT. The benchmark closed 0.1% lower on Wednesday.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed that consumer inflation held steady in April leaving the wagers of further rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia still on the table.
Financials rose 0.4%, with the country's top four banks climbing between 0.2% and 0.6%.
Energy stocks rose 1.1% as oil prices gained after a U.S. court blocked President Donald Trump's tariffs from taking effect, among other factors.
Woodside and smaller rival Santos added 1.3% and 0.6%, respectively.
On the other hand, mining stocks fell for a third session in a row, down 0.4%, on extended downturn of iron ore futures from slowing steel production in top consumer China.
BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue dropped 0.7%, 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
Gold stocks slipped 0.7% to a one-week low despite steady bullion prices.
Northern Star Resources declined 1.5% and Evolution Mining dropped 1.9%.
Meanwhile, local technology stocks gained 0.5% as sentiment improved after Nvidia's first-quarter sales beat estimates.
The sub-index is hovering near a three-month high, with WiseTech Global and ASX-listed shares of Xero climbing 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.2% to 12,334.11.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered borrowing costs by 25 basis points on Wednesday.
The central bank flagged a deeper easing cycle than it previously estimated in view of rising risks from a sharp shift in U.S. trade policies.
(Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
12 minutes ago
- Business Standard
US July budget deficit up 20% Y-o-Y despite record Trump tariff income
The US budget deficit in July climbed 20 per cent this fiscal year compared to the last despite the US taking in record income from President Donald Trump's tariffs, according to Treasury Department data released Tuesday. The US saw a 273 per cent increase - or $21 billion - in customs revenue in July over the same period last year, the data showed. A Treasury official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the data said overall increased spending is in part due to a mix of expenditures, including growing interest payments on the public debt and cost-of-living increases to Social Security payouts, among other costs. This comes as the federal government's gross national debt creeps up to the $37 trillion mark. Even as Trump talks about America becoming rich because of his import tax hikes, federal spending keeps outpacing the revenues collected by the government. That financial picture might change as companies exhaust their pre-tariff inventories, forcing them to import more goods and generate even more in tax revenues that could whittle away at the deficit without meaningfully reducing it as promised. If tariffs fail to deliver on Trump's pledge to improve the government's balance sheet, the American public could be faced with fewer job options, more inflationary pressures and higher interest rates on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. The budget deficit is the annual gap between what the US government raises in taxes and what it spends, over time feeding into the overall national debt. While organisations like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget say that tariff income can be a stream of meaningful revenue - estimated to generate about $1.3 trillion over the course of President Trump's four-year term in office; some economists like Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model say tariffs are likely to result in only modest reductions in federal debt. In June, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall. But revenue estimates are also difficult to predict as the president has changed his tariff rates repeatedly and the taxes declared as part of an economic emergency are currently under appeal in a US court. A Treasury official did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on when the US could begin to see tariff revenue start to put a dent in the deficit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month on Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria that the administration is laser-focused on bringing this deficit down. The Trump administration expects to make more trade deals with other nations, including China and other major economies. For instance, on Monday, Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days, which preserves the 30 per cent tariffs he had imposed as a condition for negotiations. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12.01 am on Tuesday. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same. Beijing, at the same time, also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
12 minutes ago
- Business Standard
US national debt reaches record $37 trillion, Treasury Department reports
The US government's gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America's balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers. The $37 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report issued Tuesday which logs the nation's daily finances. The national debt eclipsed $37 trillion years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. The Congressional Budget Office's January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030. But the debt grew faster than expected because of a multi-year Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2020 that shut down much of the US economy, where the federal government borrowed heavily under then-President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden to stabilise the national economy and support a recovery. And now, more government spending has been approved after Trump signed into law Republicans' tax cut and spending legislation earlier this year. The law set to add $4.1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. Chair and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Michael Peterson said in a statement that government borrowing puts upward pressure on interest rates, adding costs for everyone and reducing private sector investment. Within the federal budget, the debt crowds out important priorities and creates a damaging cycle of more borrowing, more interest costs, and even more borrowing. Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution said Congress has a major role in setting in motion spending and revenue policy and the result of the Republicans' tax law "means that we're going to borrow a lot over the course of 2026, we're going to borrow a lot over the course of 2027, and it's just going to keep going." The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impacts of rising government debt on Americans - including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services. Peterson points out how the trillion-dollar milestones are piling up at a rapid rate. The US hit $34 trillion in debt in January 2024, $35 trillion in July 2024 and $36 trillion in November 2024. We are now adding a trillion more to the national debt every 5 months," Peterson said. "That's more than twice as fast as the average rate over the last 25 years. The Joint Economic Committee estimates at the current average daily rate of growth an increase of another trillion dollars to the debt would be reached in approximately 173 days. Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in a statement that hopefully this milestone is enough to wake up policymakers to the reality that we need to do something, and we need to do it quickly. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
12 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Gold price dips ₹10 to ₹1,01,390, silver down ₹100, trading at ₹1,14,900
Gold Price Today: The price of 24-carat gold fell ₹10 in early trade on Wednesday, with ten grams of the precious metal trading at ₹1,01,390, according to the GoodReturns website. The price of silver also decreased by ₹100, with one kilogram of the precious metal selling at ₹1,14,900. The price of 22-carat gold declined by ₹10, with ten grams of the yellow metal selling at ₹92,940. The price of ten grams of 24-carat gold in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai stood at ₹1,01,390. In Delhi, the price of ten grams of 24-carat gold stood at ₹1,01,540. In Mumbai, the price of ten grams of 22-carat gold is in line with that of Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad at ₹92,940. The price of one kilogram of silver in Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai stood at ₹1,14,900. The price of one kilogram of silver in Chennai stood at ₹1,24,900. Gold prices edged higher on Tuesday after US inflation data sustained expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, while attention turned to other key economic data due this week. Spot gold rose 0.2 per cent at $3,349.60 an ounce at 12:06 p.m. EDT (1606 GMT). Among other metals, spot silver gained 0.9 per cent at $37.95 an ounce, platinum firmed 0.6 per cent to $1,335.39, while palladium dropped 0.2 per cent to $1,132.22.
