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ASX hits record high; CBA eclipses BHP as Australia’s biggest company
By Millie Muroi
The Australian sharemarket hit a record high on Friday as the Commonwealth Bank surpassed BHP as the country’s biggest company.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 69.7 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 7959.3 – just shy of its intraday peak of about 7969 – with all sectors except technology moving higher. The Australian dollar was fetching US67.61¢.
Latest US inflation figures showed milder price increases than expected from a year earlier.Credit: Bloomberg
CBA, the country’s biggest bank, overtook mining giant BHP to become Australia’s most valuable public company following a rally that lifted its share price by 1.3 per cent. The stock has rocketed almost 33 per cent in the past year.
CBA shares closed at $131.66, giving the company a market capitalisation of $221 billion, compared to BHP’s cap of about $220 billion.
The financials sector rose 1 per cent, with the four big banks gaining ground. National Bank shares climbed 2.1 per cent, Westpac was up 1 per cent and ANZ added 0.9 per cent.
Real estate investment trusts (up 2 per cent) led the way, with Charter Hall Group gaining 5.2 per cent and GPT Group advancing 5.3 per cent. Other interest-rate sensitive sectors, including healthcare (up 1.5 per cent) and consumer discretionary (up 1.7 per cent) were also stronger.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the sharemarket took a positive lead from sentiment around interest rates, and hopes that falling inflation in the US could be replicated domestically.
“US, Japanese and Australian shares hit record highs as expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts by September were reinforced by comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell and soft US inflation data,” he said.
However, he warned that the possibility of a recession remained a threat for investment returns over 2024-25, along with possible delays to rate cuts and significant geopolitical risks.
“The next 12 months are likely to be more constrained compared to 2023-24,” he said, although he noted easing inflation pressures and prospects for stronger growth could make for reasonable returns.
James Hardie Industries (up 5.2 per cent), Netwealth Group (up 3.8 per cent) and Seek (up 3.3 per cent) were among the biggest large-cap advancers, with gold miners Northern Star (up 4.3 per cent), Evolution (up 2.9 per cent) and Newmont (up 2.8 per cent) also gaining after the price of bullion jumped 1.6 per cent.
The Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US.Credit: Bloomberg
Technology (down 1.2 per cent) was only ASX losing sector, following Wall Street’s lead where shares in major tech companies dipped. WiseTech shares fell 3.4 per cent, data centre operator NEXTDC lost 2.3 per cent and Xero was down 0.7 per cent.
Computershare (down 3.9 per cent), insurer QBE (down 2 per cent) and infrastructure investment firm Infratil (down 2 per cent) were among the biggest large-cap decliners.
Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said the market is pricing in three US rate cuts, but the fundamentals for domestic stocks is not so rosy.
“There’s little domestically that’s driving the move to all-time highs,” he said. “If anything, local fundamentals are slightly negative, given the risk of another RBA rate hike, sluggish Chinese growth and earnings expectations that are neutral to slightly negative.”
Overnight, a fall in tech giants’ shares dragged the key US sharemarket index lower, even as the latest update on inflation bolstered Wall Street’s belief that relief on interest rates may come in September.
Four out of every five stocks in the S&P 500 index climbed, though pullbacks for Nvidia, Microsoft and a handful of other highly influential tech firms masked that underlying strength, which helped drag the S&P 500 Index down 0.9 per cent from its record high set a day earlier.
The action was even stronger in the bond market, where yields tumbled as traders built bets for the US Federal Reserve to soon begin lowering its main interest rate.
Wall Street considered that Thursday’s inflation report – which showed milder price increases than expected from a year earlier for petrol, cars and other things consumers bought during June – supported that case.
Following the report’s release, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.2 per cent, from 4.28 per cent late on Wednesday.
With AP
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