It was a better week for local stocks, with the ASX 200 bouncing 1.8% on broad-based gains, which saw all 11 major sectors advance, led by an unusual combination of consumer staples and energy stocks. Following a tough four weeks, the Australian share market notched its best weekly positive performance of 2025, but with new tariffs due on April 2nd, it could still become the calm before the storm. The lack of fresh tariff news and encouraging developments on the interest rate front was enough to “stop the rot” in equity land, but how the market deals with the next wave of bad news will tell us the real story.
It was another tough week for local stocks, with the ASX200 closing down another 2%, extending the aggressive pullback to 10.2%, the market's largest 4-week decline since 2020. Eight of the eleven mainboard sectors declined, spearheaded by the tech, healthcare, consumer discretionary, and financial sectors, all of which fell over 3%. Performance reversion was again the main game in town, with the resources performing well at the expense of many high-flyers over the last year.
Friday's sharp 1.8% sell-off compounded what had already been a tough few weeks for local stocks. Last week saw the ASX200 accelerate lower, extending its decline from its mid-February high to 7.8%. Much of the damage was inflicted by the outperforming, high-value stocks that have driven markets over the last two years, such as banks, retailers and tech stocks.
Friday's sharp 1.2% sell-off compounded what had already been a tough February for local stocks. The ASX200 ended the month down 4.2%, with the Financials, Energy, Real Estate, Healthcare, and Tech sectors all falling over 5%. The defensives stood out in the winner's enclosure, with the Utilities +2.7% and Consumer Staples +1.5%, reducing the market's decline. The market's drop was its largest one-month decline since September 2022, as all the statistics aligned to paint a pretty average picture for investors, although we are still up for 2025, albeit just. On the stock level, the major movers were dictated by reporting season; next week should be back to normal, although we do still have Trump and an election looming:
Last week saw the ASX200 post its worst week since September 2022, falling over 3%, as soft earnings in key areas, such as the influential banking sector, more than offset an improvement in the mining sector. Friday's 0.3% fall was the market's fifth consecutive losing day, its largest five-day point and percentage decline since early August.
Last week, the ASX200 climbed +0.5%, notching fresh highs on Thursday and Friday. However, on both occasions, the market surrendered most of the day's gains by the close. It was a mixed affair on the sector front, with the Industrials +2.9 % and consumer staples +2.4% leading the line while the healthcare -3.8% and energy stocks -1.1% took the open spoon. However, the real action unfolded on the stock level as is typical during reporting season:
The ASX200 slipped slightly in the first week of February ending down -0.24% with the healthcare and utilities sectors weighing on the market while the tech and materials stocks helped limit losses. It was an overall turbulent week for stocks as earnings season kicks into gear. The prospect of lower interest rates, trade war jitters and resilient consumer spending added to the day-to-day volatility. Local shares closed out the week flat with a negative tilt as traders remained cautious ahead of the US Payrolls report, which will influence the Fed's decision on interest rate cuts.
The ASX200 closed at its highest ever level, surpassing its previous record set 8 weeks ago. Friday saw the market gain another +0.45% extending January's advance to +4.57% with the rate-sensitive consumer discretionary, financials, real estate and tech sectors leading the charge. We are only five weeks into the new year, but the local market has already managed to dismiss the Trump inauguration and an AI shakeout courtesy of DeepSeek. Local stocks have followed European indices powering to fresh all-time highs, while US indices have struggled to advance year to-date under the weight of heavy AI selling, e.g. Heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA US) is down over 10% year-to-date.
The ASX200 ended a volatile and tough week, down 2.76% hitting a 100-day low on Friday. The Fed was the catalyst after cutting interest rates by 0.25% on Wednesday night, but at the same time, it moved the proverbial goalposts in terms of the future path in 2025. The Fed revised its outlook for rate cuts in 2025, indicating two reductions, down from the four previously forecasted in September.
The ASX200 ended the second week of December down by 1.48%, with the tech sector leading the retreat, tumbling by 5.7%. This was accompanied by real estate, financials, and industrials, which all declined by around 2%. The consumer staples and materials sectors were the only pockets to close up for the week, and they both advanced less than 0.1%. On the stock front, we saw some standout performance reversion from trends of 2024:
It was another tough week for local stocks, with the ASX200 closing down another 2%, extending the aggressive pullback to 10.2%, the market's largest 4-week decline since 2020. Eight of the eleven mainboard sectors declined, spearheaded by the tech, healthcare, consumer discretionary, and financial sectors, all of which fell over 3%. Performance reversion was again the main game in town, with the resources performing well at the expense of many high-flyers over the last year.
Friday's sharp 1.8% sell-off compounded what had already been a tough few weeks for local stocks. Last week saw the ASX200 accelerate lower, extending its decline from its mid-February high to 7.8%. Much of the damage was inflicted by the outperforming, high-value stocks that have driven markets over the last two years, such as banks, retailers and tech stocks.
Friday's sharp 1.2% sell-off compounded what had already been a tough February for local stocks. The ASX200 ended the month down 4.2%, with the Financials, Energy, Real Estate, Healthcare, and Tech sectors all falling over 5%. The defensives stood out in the winner's enclosure, with the Utilities +2.7% and Consumer Staples +1.5%, reducing the market's decline. The market's drop was its largest one-month decline since September 2022, as all the statistics aligned to paint a pretty average picture for investors, although we are still up for 2025, albeit just. On the stock level, the major movers were dictated by reporting season; next week should be back to normal, although we do still have Trump and an election looming:
Last week saw the ASX200 post its worst week since September 2022, falling over 3%, as soft earnings in key areas, such as the influential banking sector, more than offset an improvement in the mining sector. Friday's 0.3% fall was the market's fifth consecutive losing day, its largest five-day point and percentage decline since early August.
Last week, the ASX200 climbed +0.5%, notching fresh highs on Thursday and Friday. However, on both occasions, the market surrendered most of the day's gains by the close. It was a mixed affair on the sector front, with the Industrials +2.9 % and consumer staples +2.4% leading the line while the healthcare -3.8% and energy stocks -1.1% took the open spoon. However, the real action unfolded on the stock level as is typical during reporting season:
The ASX200 slipped slightly in the first week of February ending down -0.24% with the healthcare and utilities sectors weighing on the market while the tech and materials stocks helped limit losses. It was an overall turbulent week for stocks as earnings season kicks into gear. The prospect of lower interest rates, trade war jitters and resilient consumer spending added to the day-to-day volatility. Local shares closed out the week flat with a negative tilt as traders remained cautious ahead of the US Payrolls report, which will influence the Fed's decision on interest rate cuts.
The ASX200 closed at its highest ever level, surpassing its previous record set 8 weeks ago. Friday saw the market gain another +0.45% extending January's advance to +4.57% with the rate-sensitive consumer discretionary, financials, real estate and tech sectors leading the charge. We are only five weeks into the new year, but the local market has already managed to dismiss the Trump inauguration and an AI shakeout courtesy of DeepSeek. Local stocks have followed European indices powering to fresh all-time highs, while US indices have struggled to advance year to-date under the weight of heavy AI selling, e.g. Heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA US) is down over 10% year-to-date.
The ASX200 ended a volatile and tough week, down 2.76% hitting a 100-day low on Friday. The Fed was the catalyst after cutting interest rates by 0.25% on Wednesday night, but at the same time, it moved the proverbial goalposts in terms of the future path in 2025. The Fed revised its outlook for rate cuts in 2025, indicating two reductions, down from the four previously forecasted in September.
The ASX200 ended the second week of December down by 1.48%, with the tech sector leading the retreat, tumbling by 5.7%. This was accompanied by real estate, financials, and industrials, which all declined by around 2%. The consumer staples and materials sectors were the only pockets to close up for the week, and they both advanced less than 0.1%. On the stock front, we saw some standout performance reversion from trends of 2024:
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