Thanks afternoon crew. Losing day for me. Made on CYM, break-even on MMC, lost on COH after ignoring a chance to get out with a slender profit.
End-of-day summary:
Australian shares fell for a second day after the Reserve Bank left benchmark rates on hold but did not rule out further increases.
The ASX 200 dropped 44 points or 0.58% to 7582. A risk-off session dominated by the rates outlook here and in the US saw tech stocks, miners and utilities fall hardest. Energy was the only sector to buck the downtrend.
The index briefly added to earlier losses after the RBA left the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35%, as widely expected, but warned inflation remained too high to guarantee the top of this rates cycle was in.
"The path of interest rates that will best ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe will depend upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks, and a further increase in interest rates cannot be ruled out," read the key sentence in today's policy statement.
In a later press conference, Governor Michele Bullock said the bank does not expect inflation to return to the bank's 2-3% target range until next year.
"We've made good progress," she said. "But there is more work to do. The job's not done."
The odds on a June rate cut drifted out to 42% from 53% prior to this afternoon's rates statement.
Earlier, stocks fell to the lowest in more than a week following a soft night on Wall Street as the Federal Reserve reiterated its belief that rate cuts are further off than market pricing implies. The S&P 500 eased 0.32c
