A flat finish capped off a soft week for equities, with the ASX 200 down 0.8% and just two trading sessions remaining before EOFY. Technology (-5%), Materials (-4%) and Energy (-4%) were the week’s biggest drags, while investors rotated into more defensive areas such as Consumer Staples (+3%) and Utilities (+2%). The standout, however, was the beaten-down retail sector, which rallied more than 3.5% for the week. We continue to see further upside here as the market increasingly prices out the prospect of additional interest rate hikes by the RBA.
Today’s trade was choppy, weighed down by weakness across Asian technology stocks. South Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 6.5%, with Samsung and SK Hynix both dropping more than 7% on renewed concerns about memory chip demand. Reports that OpenAI may delay its IPO also hit sentiment, sending SoftBank shares down as much as 13% in Tokyo.