ASX Market Update: RBA comments and Consumer Discretionary selloff pushes market down

The ASX200 has been down 0.17% at 8,308 points.

This was a fall back from its opening position on Friday morning, when it was a third of a percent higher just before the bell.

The move into the red was prompted by a sell off in consumer discretionary stocks after RBA governor Michele Bullock admitted the central bank had been too slow to raise the cash rate after the start of inflation growth, and did not want to be late in cutting it. However, she also said more progress would be needed before another cut could be priced in.

Also weighing on the market was a sell off in Commonwealth Bank shares, with banks such as Westpac, NAB and ANZ also performing slightly weaker.

Utilities has been the strongest performing sector today, up 1.32%, followed by Materials, up 1.26%, and Real Estate up 0.76%.

Consumer Discretionary had led the reds, down 1.97%, followed by Telecommunications, down 1.40%, and Industrials, which was 0.84% lower.

Nine Entertainment Co ASX:NEC) was one of the best performing companies, up more than 23% on news that Domain – in which it is a major shareholder – has received a non-binding indicative proposal from US real estate titan Co-Star to take it over. Nine said that Domain was of ‘strategic importance’ to its media ecosystem and the company’s long term strategy.

Nine shares were $1.77.

Insurer QBE was also higher, this time by 6.75% after reporting higher profits for 2024. The company said its net profit after income tax had been US$1.78 billion – up from US$1.35 billion in 2023.

QBE was trading at $21.42.

And Domain’s main competitor REA Group Ltd (ASX:REA) down nearly 10% after previously falling by 11% after news of the Co-Star offer, which is priced at $4.20 a share.

REA has been trading at $240.04 today.

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