Tony Sycamore from IG has circulated his afternoon report about the ASX today.
He notes that the ASX200 surged over 100 points in early trading today to a high of 8764.2 – just 13 points shy of its mid-July 8776.4 record high.
“Shortly after lunch it is holding onto most of those gains,” he writes.
“The rally came after the bulls wrestled back control on Wall Street overnight, as the prospect of a sooner and deeper Fed rate cuts offset slowdown concerns stemming from last Friday’s weak jobs report.
“The US interest rate market is now fully priced for a 25 bp rate cut in September, with a cumulative 63 basis points of rate cuts expected between now and the end of the year.
“This dovish turnaround follows Thursday’s hawkish FOMC meeting, where the odds of a rate cut in September fell to just 44% (11 basis points).
“Wall Street’s gains were led by tech stocks, which are better positioned to navigate ongoing economic and political risks, and are expected to benefit from both earlier Fed rate cuts and the growth in AI technology.
“The ASX 200 IT sector followed suit, rising 1.8% to 3013 — just shy of last week’s record high of 3057. Leading the charge higher today were the usual suspects including DroneShield as it soared 7.43% to $4.06, Zip surged 5.16% to $3.37, Megaport rallied 3.25% to $15.23 and Life 360 climbed 2% to $39.70.
“Benefiting from the prospect of rate cuts both locally and internationally, interest-sensitive sectors, particularly consumer-facing and real estate stocks, outperformed.
Super Retail gained 2.5% to $15.55, Myer lifted 2.07% to $0.62, Harvey Norman increased 1.9% to $5.91, and Baby Bunting rose 1.8% to $1.71.