ASX Slips 1% While S&P Scales New Peak

By Glenn Dyer | More Articles by Glenn Dyer

The positive global lead saw ASX 200 futures rise 25 points or 0.4% pointing to a solid start for the Australian share market later this morning.

However, Australian shares closed before the good news on US jobs and trade, and increasing talk that the RBA may be done cutting saw the ASX 200 fall 1% for the week led down by financials, consumer and energy shares.

Bond yields fell slightly in the US, Germany and Japan but rose in Australia.

Friday saw the ASX 200 close 5.7 points higher at 6669.1 after starting Friday’s session with a drop of 20 points and spending most of the day in red.

Oil and metal prices fell slightly, and the iron ore price had another fall of 3% (see separate story).

The Australian dollar rose and closed above 69 US cents as the Fed cut rates and as expectations for further RBA rate cuts were reduced in the wake of the weakish inflation data for the September quarter.

Friday trading saw eurozone shares close up 0.7% on Friday and the US S&P 500 jump 1% on the back of another solid jobs report and after China indicated that it had reached “consensus in principle” with US trade negotiators.

For the week the S&P 500 rose 1.47% to a new record high, the Dow rose 1.44% and the Nasdaq rose 1.74%.

Eurozone shares rose 0.4%, Japanese shares gained 0.2% and Chinese shares rose 1.4% helped by news of a rise in the Caixin manufacturing conditions index.

The Dow rose 301.13 points, or 1.1% on Friday, to 27,347.36. The S&P 500 index touched a fresh high after gaining 29.35 points, or 1%, to 3,066.91. The Nasdaq jumped 94.04 points, or 1.1%, at 8,386.40.

The S&P has climbed for four straight weeks, its longest winning streak since February and set three closing highs last week.

The Nasdaq has gained in five straight weeks as quarterly earnings have come in stronger than anticipated and US-China trade rhetoric has cooled. The Dow ended trading on Friday less than 12 points from a new closing record.

About Glenn Dyer

Glenn Dyer has been a finance journalist and TV producer for more than 40 years. He has worked at Maxwell Newton Publications, Queensland Newspapers, AAP, The Australian Financial Review, The Nine Network and Crikey.

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