Australia shares hit 3-week closing low; markets pare Feb rate-cut bets after local jobs data

Australian shares finished at a three-week closing low on Thursday after a sharp decline in unemployment pushed investors to scale back their February interest rate cut bets, pressuring risk-prone equities.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.3% lower at 8,330.3 points, the lowest close since Nov. 21. This was the benchmark’s third consecutive session of losses.

Unemployment in the country declined sharply to an eight-month low in November, signalling to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) that the labour market was more resilient than expected.

Traders, who had been betting on a rate cut in February after a weak economic growth print last week and dovish comments by the central bank on Tuesday, dialled back the odds to 50% from 68% after the jobs report.

Analysts now widely expect the first cut to be in May.

Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, said the benchmark’s fall today came as “markets reassessed the likelihood of an RBA rate cut in February following a solid November jobs report”.

Adelaide Timbrell, a senior economist at ANZ, said, “Softer economic data from the recent national accounts (GDP) release raised the risk of a February cut, but this labour market result offsets that risk somewhat.”

Australian shares follow Wall Street lower ahead of US inflation data

Banks were little changed, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country’s largest lender, ending flat.

Miners slipped marginally, with sector major BHP shedding 0.5%.

Technology stocks bucked the trend and tracked their Wall Street peers higher to gain 0.4%, snapping a four-day decline.

Logistics software maker WiseTech Global climbed 0.7%, while accounting software maker Xero jumped 1.4%.

Discretionary retailers and real estate stocks were pressured by a protracted rate cut trajectory.

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises lost 3.9% and property manager Mirvac Group declined 2.9%.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index closed 0.5% lower at 12,692.72 points.