Greetings and welcome to HotCopper‘s the ASX Today for Wednesday of Week 22, I’m Jonathon Davidson, and while it’s been a fairly lacklustre day for the local bourse once again, there was one big spot of optimism.
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Long story short, Australian inflation data came in cooler than expected for the twelve months to April, down from 4.6% to 4.2% – that’s the headline read, stripping out fuel and food as volatile items – while Trimmed Mean Inflation, Australia’s equivalent of “core inflation”, climbed by one pip to 3.4%.
While Oxford Economics and Bank of New York Mellon analysts say there’s more pain to come buried in that Trimmed Mean read, for now, the Oz market seems satisfied the RBA will keep rates on pause at its next meeting.
The decline in headline inflation was driven by a drop in fuel prices following the government’s halving of the fuel excise, though housing remains a firm pressure on the economy. Fuel prices also remain over 20% higher than when the war in Iran started, per numbers shared from the ABS today, which might be why the market Down Under only traded flattish green after the news.
Still, flattish green is better than nothing. Looking around the traps on Wednesday: New market entrant Li-FT Power – that’s Li ‘dash’ FT Power, ticker code LFT – had a strong debut on Wednesday, though on low volumes, up over +6% in mid arvo trades. The company is a lithium pegmatite explorer based in Canada. You’d be forgiven for thinking we’d gone back to CY22.
Elsewhere, ASX-listed aluminium giant Alcoa Corporation added to its impressive YTD run on Wednesday, jumping higher as aluminium futures on the London Metals Exchange jumped overnight; that’s because new concerns about reduced output in China on environmental grounds have added to existing strain coming from the Strait of Hormuz closure.
Finally, the ASX itself continued to fall Wednesday, one day after learning the company will need to spend more CapEx than expected replacing its embattled CHESS trading software; a few years ago, that overhaul was meant to be ready this year; the company yesterday gave projections of higher spending into FY28 – suggesting there’s still time to wait yet. At least they’re no longer talking about blockchain.
That’s the ASX Today for Wednesday, I’m Jon Davidson, have a great night.
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