Australian shares rose marginally in choppy trade on Monday, as gains in healthcare and banking indexes offset losses in commodities-linked stocks, with investors continuing to gauge the U.S. Federal Reserve’s future rate hike stance.
The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.1% to 7,159.2 points by 2350 GMT. The benchmark had added 0.2% on Friday.
Global investors digested views from Fed officials, which signalled that inflationary pressures still stayed at large, with a possibility of another 75 basis point hike looming after strong retail sales and jobs data was reported last week.
“The downward surprise in October’s U.S. CPI is unlikely to be enough for the Fed to be confident that inflation is on track to move back to 2% sustainably,” Richard Yetsenga, a chief economist from ANZ said.
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Australian miners fell 1.1%, despite easing COVID-19 rules in China and expectations that officials will take more actions to stem an economic downturn which had pushed iron ore prices higher.
Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals dropped between 1.1% and 3.1%.
The energy index followed suit, slipping about 1%, with Woodside Energy and Santos falling 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.
On the positive side, financial stocks, which occupy one-third of the benchmark, gained about 0.7%. The “Big Four” banks added 0.3%-0.8%.
Healthcare shares advanced 0.5%, following a stronger dollar, with index major CSL climbing about 1.1%.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose around 0.2% to 11,406.3 points.
The country’s central bank is likely to raise its benchmark interest rates by 75 basis for the first time ever, according to a Reuters poll. (Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
