‘Good enough': ASX jumps on positive inflation reading
The benchmark ASX 200 jumped 51.80 points or 0.60 per cent to 8,756.40, with the market lifting after 11.30am on the CPI data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The broader All Ordinaries also traded higher up 48.70 points or 0.54 per cent to 9,015.40.
Australia's dollar slid on the news down 0.05 per cent to US 65.09 cents.
Six of the 11 sectors finished in the green.
Shares related to a rate cut jumped on the news.
Gains were led by the major banks with bourse heavyweight CBA up 1.55 per cent to $176.99, NAB gained 0.71 per cent to $38.47, Westpac jumped 1.60 per cent to $33.72 and ANZ closed 1.25 per cent higher to $30.70.
Woolworths Group added 1.58 per cent to $31.44, Coles jumped 1.72 per cent to $20.65 and Endeavour Group is up 1.23 per cent to $4.12.
Stockland shares jumped 2.21 per cent to $5.55, Charter Hall Group gained 1.76 per cent to $20.21 and Mirvac Group gained 2.73 per cent to $2.26.
Betashare chief economist David Bassanese said near enough was good enough for a rate cut as trimmed mean inflation fell to 2.7 per cent for the 12 months until June.
'Underlying inflation is inching closer to the middle of the RBA's 2 to 3 per cent target band and so justifies a further easing in what – in the RBA's own words – a still 'modestly restrictive' level of interest rates,' he said.
Josh Gilbert, market analyst for eToro, described it as hard for the RBA to hold rates.
'After the surprise pause in July, today's data means an August rate cut is all but nailed on,' he said.
'Markets are now pricing a 93 per cent chance of a cut, and it's easy to see why. Cost-of-living pressures are easing, and the risk is now skewed towards holding rates too high for too long.'
In company news, Rio Tinto half-yearly earnings fell to a five-year low on the back of weaker iron ore prices throughout the previous six months.
The major iron ore exporter told the market its underlying profits came in at $US4.8bn for the first six months until June 30, which is down from $US5.75bn ($8.83bn) last year
Interim dividends fall to $US1.48 a share versus $1.77 a year ago
Embattled casino operator Star Entertainment used its quarterly update to announce the sale of its Queen's Wharf precinct in Brisbane was 'unlikely' to go through by Thursday's deadline.
But it also pointed to an improving cash position with Star having $234m in cash and $269m in cash equivalents, as of June 30, up from $44m at the end of March.
Shares in Star Entertainment Group slumped 4.35 per cent to $0.11 following the announcement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
17 minutes ago
- ABC News
Grey nomad strikes gold unearthing nugget in outback
A Victorian man has unearthed a gold nugget worth around $40,000 while filming a prospecting tutorial video in WA's Goldfields with his wife.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Expert reveals blast risk for new 15,000-home Melbourne suburb
A former explosives engineer who worked in the mining sector before becoming a real estate guru has issued a stark warning for a new mega suburb planned for Melbourne's north. Just the prospect of nearby explosive work at a neighbouring quarry, coupled with people who don't understand it, could be enough to hit home values and the ability to onsell residences nearby. Even with the likelihood blasting will be done so safely it has no risk of physically impacting homes. The Victorian Government this week approved plans for a new 15,000 home precinct to Melbourne's north — as well as a basalt quarry to help build infrastructure as well as properties. Authorities have planned a 250m 'blast buffer', and the nearest houses will be about 500m away with estate amenities filling the remaining space between them and the excavation site. Real estate investment expert, and former explosives engineer Jane Slack-Smith said even with the buffer zone it would be a case of 'buyer beware'. I've got sti 'It could be a good solution for getting into a first home, and having a lovely experience — but when they come to sell, it's probably going to negatively impact their selling price,' Ms Slack-Smith said. 'The public perception is the thing that causes the worst situation here. Even though the reality is that we need the quarry to build the homes.' The property investment expert said she had finished her explosives career about 20 years ago, after starting as one of the first two women handling detonations in NSW coal mines in 1989. As she was transferring to a career in property investment advisory, her former industry was beginning to use sophisticated digital blasting technology that could effectively direct which way shockwaves from explosives travel — to the extent that certain blasting could be done 'in your backyard' without most people noticing. Ms Slack-Smith she believed the technology had come a long way since then. 'That could minimise blast noise and vibrations,' she said. 'But a homeowner about to buy in a housing estate, they don't know that. 'You talk to someone about explosives and the only stories that people know are the big bangs. 'So there's always a worry that there will be buyer expectations around buying in the area.' And it's unlikely the first homebuyers heading into the estate will be able to wait out the quarry, which is slated for operation through to 2052. Most homebuyers live in a residence for seven to 11 years. The quarry is likely to also create dust and noise, with expectations the operators will be taking steps to address these where possible. The approval of the quarry has frustrated existing local residents who had been fighting against its establishment for about four years — including two prior rejections by Mitchell Shire Council, who had warned of impacts on traffic, air quality and potentially the health and wellbeing of current and future residents. The 1279ha wider Beveridge North West Precinct Structure Plan that the quarry and homes will be part of will also pave the way for eight schools, four town halls and shopping centres, a series of parks and reserves and is ultimately expected to house 47,000 people. The approval was announced on Tuesday by Victorian planning minister Sonya Kilkenny who said there would be a staged rollout of the schools and other amenities — while the quarry was essential for building many of the homes and could lead to reduced construction costs. 'There is a quarry in this PSP that has been there, identified in the plan for many years, and part of that is ensuring that when you've got supply of materials, local construction, materials that are close to demand, it also means you can reduce the cost of the housing, reduce the cost of construction, which ultimately makes the homes cheaper to build and cheaper then to buy,' Ms Kilkenny said. Housing Industry Association Victorian executive director Keith Ryan said it was likely increased materials for civil works would allow for more rapid delivery of the infrastructure needed to support new homes and potentially home features like driveways. In the absence of economic modelling, Mr Ryan was not sure how much of a benefit this would provide to the homebuyers, but said there would be wide benefits from the creation of a new quarry — though there might still be questions of labour availability. He added that with a number of quarries already operating near homes around Victoria, and having done so historically, there was a prospect home values might not suffer. 'When people look at these homes in the future, they might not know the quarry is there unless they drive right past it,' Mr Ryan said. It won't be the first time explosives and new housing have been mixed, with developer Stockland laying 600m of underground explosives to precision blast in sewerage lines for a Truganina housing estate in 2019. In the span of 10 seconds the detonations prepared the ground for the infrastructure for a section of the 138ha Grandview estate, expected to house about 4500 residents — a fraction of what is to come in the new precinct at Beveridge.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
CSIRO could be facing hundreds more job cuts this year, union warns
There are fears hundreds more Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) jobs could be axed this year, the union has warned. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that Australia's national science agency was enduring its "biggest job cuts in a decade". Last year, 440 positions were slashed, and the CPSU said "approximately 200 contract jobs were left to expire, with hundreds more cuts expected to be made to research units later this year". The union said it had made a submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable, warning the nation's capacity for productivity and innovation was being "actively undermined". The union is calling for the federal government to intervene to prevent further proposed cuts. CSIRO Staff Association section secretary Susan Tonks said there was a "clear disconnect between the government's talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it". "But deep job cuts at the CSIRO are directly undermining Australia's ability to innovate, compete and grow. And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation. "If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country's peak science institution." The CSIRO has been contacted for comment. Ms Tonks said concern among staff was high. "If you're looking at the May budget papers and the workshops … there's workshops coming up to assess what science will be done, and what research will continue in September," she said. "And looking at all the numbers and everything that's coming up, it's looking highly likely that there will be similar numbers [to last year's cuts] coming across the research portfolio. "There's still assessments to be done, but given what we've just come out of, the anxiety and the concern and anger from staff is high." She said it was "hard to say" which areas within the CSIRO would be targeted. "But I think everything's going to be looked at," she said. "Looking at recent conversations with staff in preparation for some of those that are going to go through, there's quotes like, 'We need to be simpler as an organisation, we need to exit some areas and do fewer things better.'" She said it was "unsettling" for staff who had already been through recent changes, and warned some might not remain at the CSIRO if uncertainty lingered. "It's worth noting, public investment in research and development is what delivers innovation, it increases productivity," Ms Tonks said. "The CSIRO's been behind some of the most important scientific innovations that we've had in Australia. "We need to make sure that we back it."
