Australian shares inched down on Wednesday tracking a sell-off on Wall Street overnight, with gold stocks falling the most, after hawkish remarks from a US Federal Reserve official dampened interest rate-cut hopes.
The S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.1% lower to 7,409.10 points by 2358 GMT.
The benchmark fell 1.1% on Tuesday.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said that while US inflation is approaching the central bank’s 2% goal, the Fed should not rush to lower interest rates until lower inflation can clearly be sustained, causing traders pare bets on March rate cut.
Investors will also look for key economic growth data for Australia’s largest trading partner, China, due later in the day.
Gold stocks dropped as much as 5.7%, and were set for their worst day since late-September 2022.
Bullion prices declined more than 1%, after the US dollar hit a one-month high on weakening rate-cut expectations. Evolution Mining topped loses on the sub-index and on the bourse.
Australian shares close largely flat
The gold miner lost as much as 16.8%, its biggest intraday fall since June, 2022, after its quarterly gold production missed analysts’ estimates.
Northern Star Resources fell 3%, while the ASX-listed shares of Newmont declined 2.8%. Heavyweight miners fell for the third day in a row, dropping as much as 0.5% to their lowest level since Dec. 6.
Iron ore prices posted their eighth consecutive decline as top-consumer China skipped an expected cut in interest rates.
Energy stocks dropped 0.7%, as oil prices were also pressured by a stronger dollar. Woodside Energy fell 0.9%, while Santos dropped 0.4%.
Rate-sensitive financials lost 0.1%, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia losing 0.5%. Bucking the trend, technology firms were up 0.5%, while healthcare stocks rose 0.1%.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.3% to 11,738.96.
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