Australian shares traded flat on Tuesday, as a drop in banking shares offset gold stocks’ gains, while traders avoided risky bets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.03% to 8,155.40 points by 0030 GMT.
The benchmark had fallen 1% on Monday.
Investors are keenly awaiting the Fed’s policy decision, widely expecting it to keep interest rates unchanged.
Attention will centre around Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s commentary for cues into the central bank’s policy path.
Locally, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is set for a two-day policy meeting on May 19.
As of May 5, 56% of the market participants surveyed priced in a rate cut to 3.10% from the current 4.10%, as per the RBA Rate Tracker.
Rate-sensitive financial stocks lost 0.2%, as traders awaited the results from major Australian banks this week to assess the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
On Monday, Australia’s oldest bank, Westpac, reported first-half profits below market estimates.
Australia stocks slide amid global sell-off as trade war escalates
The National Australia Bank and ANZ Group will announce their half-yearly results on May 7 and May 8, respectively.
Healthcare stocks fell 0.6%, while consumer staples slipped 0.9%.
On the other hand, gold stocks climbed 2.9% to their highest since April 22, as bullion ascended on safe-haven demand, driven by rising concerns over Trump’s tariff plans.
Technology stocks added 0.4%, led by NEXTDC , which jumped as much as 7.4% to a two-month high and emerged as the top percentage gainer on the benchmark.
The data centre operator reported a 30% increase in pro forma contracted utilisation on March 31 from December 31, 2024. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index inched 0.2% lower to 12,397.63 points.
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