The Australian sharemarket edged higher after opening at a six-week high on Tuesday, as traders digested policy announcements from Donald Trump’s first day in office.
The S&P/ASX200 climbed 46.90 points or 0.56 per cent, to 8394.30 points, with six out of 11 industry sectors trading in the green at 1.15pm AEDT. The gains come after the ASX posted a strong performance on Monday.
The Australian sharemarket hit a six-week high on Tuesday morning. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Traders have been concerned that his threats of tariffs on China and other countries would stoke inflation and weigh on global growth. There was a sense of relief in global markets overnight after Trump was quoted as saying he would not impose tariffs yet at his inauguration. But late on inauguration day, he said he planned to enact previously threatened tariffs of as much as 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada by February 1.
The Australian dollar increased in the morning but then fell slightly by midday, and traded at 62.37 US cents at 1.15pm AEDT.
Energy was one of the best-performing sectors, with mining heavyweights Yancoal and Ampol jumping 4.2 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively. Woodside Energy reversed a trend earlier in the morning and fell slightly in the afternoon (down 0.2 per cent).
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Yancoal issued their quarterly reported on Monday night, noting they had delivered on a 2024 production guidance, producing 36.9 million tonnes of attributable saleable coal. That figure rose from 33.9 million tonnes in 2023, indicating a five per cent increase in production.
“We expect our cash operating costs to fall within guidance when we report our 2024 Financial Results in February,” the coal producer said in an ASX statement.
Mining heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto climbed 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent and Fortescue also jumped 0.6 per cent. The four big banks had a strong morning with CBA (up 1 per cent), Westpac (up 1.2), ANZ (1.7 per cent) and NAB (2.1 per cent) all recording gains. Meanwhile, telecommunication giant Telstra was down 0.25 per cent.
