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Afternoon update: ASX currently 0.58% higher as investors digest RBA comments

PUBLISHED

2023-10-17

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Australian shares initially rose in the morning but later retraced some of those gains due to hawkish comments in the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest monetary policy minutes, which dampened market optimism.

The central bank members discussed the possibility of increasing interest rates by 25 basis points but eventually chose to keep the rate unchanged at 4.1 percent for the fourth consecutive time, as indicated in the minutes.

The S&P/ASX 200 is trading 0.58 per cent higher at 7,067.1.

Futures

The SPI futures are up 30 points.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is Information Technology, up 1.87 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Consumer Staples, down 0.54 per cent.

The best-performing large cap is TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG), trading 5.02 per cent higher at $5.44. It is followed by shares in Allkem (ASX:AKE) and Xero (ASX:XRO).

The worst-performing large cap is Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ), trading 2.67 per cent lower at $4.73. It is followed by shares in Seven Group Holdings (ASX:SVW) and JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH).

Asian markets

Japan's Nikkei has gained 0.90 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 0.63 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 0.03 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,927.90 an ounce.
Light crude is trading $-0.28 lower at US$86.38 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 63.54 US cents.

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