The Australian sharemarket opened stronger again on Tuesday morning after Wall Street’s wild rollercoaster ride veered back upward, sending US stocks higher overnight.
The Australian sharemarket opened stronger again on Tuesday morning after Wall Street’s wild rollercoaster ride veered back upward, sending US stocks higher overnight.
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By Staff writers
Updated March 18, 2025 — 10.20amfirst published at 4.14am
The Australian sharemarket opened stronger again on Tuesday morning after Wall Street’s wild rollercoaster ride veered back upward, sending US stocks higher overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 climbed 63.70 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 7917.90 as of 10.57am AEDT, led by IT stocks, financial and energy shares and real estate investment trusts. All 11 industry sector advanced, setting the bourse on track for a third straight rise after last week’s horror sessions, which wiped out more than $60 billion. The ASX added 0.8 per cent on Monday.
The Australian dollar strengthened and traded at US63.82¢ at 10.58am AEDT.
Financial stocks, which make up more than 30 per cent of the local market, bolstered trading as three of the big four banks rose, with the Commonwealth Bank – the biggest stock on the ASX – up 0.9 per cent, Westpac rising 1 per cent and ANZ up 0.9 per cent. National Australia Bank slipped 0.2 per cent. Investment bank Macquarie Group also gained, up 0.6 per cent.
Energy companies advanced after oil prices strengthened overnight. Oil and gas giants Woodside and Santos added 1.1 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively, while the nation’s biggest refiner Ampol rose 1.9 per cent. Coal producers Yancoal and Whitehaven Coal also had a strong morning, up 0.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.
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The real estate sector jumped 1.6 per cent, leading the broad market rise, as shares of data centre and warehouse giant Goodman Group climbed 1.8 per cent and shopping centre owners Scentre (up 1.2 per cent), Stockland (up 0.6 per cent) and Vicinity (up 1.4 per cent) rose. Tech stocks followed their tech peers in America higher, with software makers Xero (up 2.1 per cent) and Technology One (up 1.5 per cent) both rising and data centre owner Next DC climbing 1.3 per cent.
However, overall gains were limited by the mining sector, which saw the mining heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto tread water while Fortescue Metals shed 0.8 per cent, as iron prices weakened by more than 2 per cent to $US101.95 per tonne overnight.
The ASX’s strong morning came after America’s S&P 500 rose 0.6 per cent overnight, posting its second straight gain after it fell 10 per cent below its record late last week. The Dow Jones climbed 0.9 per cent and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3 per cent.
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It’s a reprieve for investors after Wall Street entered a correction last week, having lost more than 10 per cent from its peak in February as markets were getting increasingly jittery about the global trade implications of Trump’s tariff tornado.
As retail sales data brought some relief overnight that consumer spending is not collapsing yet in the world’s largest economy, and chatter around tariffs subsided, equities continued to push away from technically oversold levels.
“Corrections that occur within a bull market, tend to be good buying opportunities,” said David Lefkowitz at UBS Global Wealth Management. “The spike in policy uncertainty hit the market at a time when investor positioning and sentiment were quite elevated. But we think a lot of this has now been cleaned up.”
To be sure, more big swings could still be ahead, with a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates coming later this week and worries continuing about President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Stocks have been mostly tumbling on worries that Trump’s announcements on tariffs and other policies are creating so much uncertainty that they’ll push US households and businesses to freeze their spending. Surveys have shown sharp drops in confidence, and some companies are already warning about changes in behaviour from their customers.
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A report on Monday said US retailers broadly saw weaker revenue last month than economists expected, but it may not have been quite as bad as it seemed on the surface. Much of the shortfall in growth versus expectations was due to weaker-than-forecast sales of automobiles and lower fuel costs. Outside of them, the performance was closer to expectations.
That’s the precarious stage onto which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will step onto on Wednesday, when he announces the Fed’s latest decision on interest rates.
Virtually no one expects the Fed to make a move on Wednesday. The central bank has been keeping rates steady so far this year, preferring to see how conditions play out.
Wall Street’s focus will be on what Powell says about the rest of the year. Expectations are still high the Fed may cut its main interest rate two or three times in 2025. The risk of cutting interest rates too quickly or aggressively is that it could push up inflation. But keeping rates too high for too long could also create unnecessary pain for the economy by slowing borrowing and overall activity.
They helped offset a 4.8 per cent drop for Tesla. The electric-vehicle company’s stock has been struggling this year amid worries that its brand has become too intertwined with Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut spending by the US government.
With AP
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