The Australian sharemarket has cracked a fresh intraday record as financials and real estate stocks rallied after an unexpectedly weak jobs report raised the prospect of an imminent rate cut from the Reserve Bank. <\/p>\n
The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 Index reached a record high of 9109.7 points around lunchtime before paring gains to be up 86.9 points, or 1 per cent, to 9077.8 as of 2pm on Thursday AEDT, with 10 out of the 11 sectors flashing green.<\/p>\n
The bourse reset its intraday record after Australia\u2019s jobless rate unexpectedly rose to a four-year high of 4.5 per cent that prompted bond traders to rapidly price in a rate cut \u2013 a roughly 70 per cent chance \u2013 when the RBA meets next month. Consensus was for unemployment to hold at 4.3 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven allowing for monthly volatility, it\u2019s clear that the pace of employment demand has slowed in recent months,\u201d said Betashares chief economist David Bassanese. \u201cToday\u2019s soft labour market report should lower the bar for an interest rate cut in November \u2013 though it\u2019s still not yet a done deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The markets moves followed a topsy-turvy session in New York as traders weighed up simmering trade tensions between the US and China. The S&P 500 opened higher, plunged, before rebounding to finish the day up 0.4 per cent.<\/p>\n
On the ASX, the big four banks led the bourse higher with index heavyweight Commonwealth Bank<\/strong> climbing 1.3 per cent. Westpac,<\/strong> National Australia Bank<\/strong> and ANZ were up by a similar amount. <\/p>\n Macquarie Group<\/strong> was particularly strong, jumping 5.2 per cent on news that it would sell the Texas-based Aligned Data Centers<\/a> for $US40 billion ($61 billion) to a consortium including BlackRock, Nvidia and Microsoft.<\/p>\n Rate-sensitive real estate stocks also advanced amid rising expectations of another interest rate cut, with Goodman Group<\/strong> up 3.7 per cent, Mirvac<\/strong> 3.5 per cent, and Stockland<\/strong> 3.6 per cent.<\/p>\n In the materials sector, gold miners continued to surge as the price of bullion topped $US4200 an ounce for the first time, bolstered by US rate cut bets and safe haven demand. Genesis<\/strong> jumped 7.5 per cent, while Northern Star<\/strong> gained 1.9 per cent, Evolution<\/strong> 3 per cent, Newmont<\/strong> 4 per cent, Capricorn<\/strong> 1.2 per cent, and Perseus<\/strong> 2.6 per cent.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, investors took profits from rare earth stocks after they rocketed earlier in the week following China\u2019s announcement it would dramatically expand its export controls on the materials<\/a>. Australian Rare Earths <\/strong>tanked 18.8 per cent, while Iluka<\/strong> fell 7.9 per cent, and Lynas<\/strong> 5.2 per cent, and Australian Strategic Metals<\/strong> 5 per cent.<\/p>\n The IT sector also fell, weighed down by Wisetech<\/strong>, which came off 1.7 per cent. Xero<\/strong> lost 1.5 per cent, while Life360<\/strong> dropped 3.2 per cent.<\/p>\n Stocks in focus<\/p>\n In corporate news, Mayne Pharma<\/strong> jumped 11 per cent after the Supreme Court of NSW on Wednesday ruled that American pharmaceutical giant Cosette could not terminate its $672 million takeover of the ASX-listed company<\/a>, with the final decision on the deal now in the hands of the Foreign Investment Review Board.<\/p>\n Entertainment Rewards<\/strong> rocketed 950 per cent after announcing that its majority shareholder, Suzerain, had made a cash takeover offer.<\/p>\n