Australia’s sharemarket fell over 50 points on Wednesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.7% to 7779.5, following a spike in May’s consumer price index to 4%, higher than expected. Interest rate-sensitive sectors like banking, real estate, and consumer discretionary saw significant sell-offs as the likelihood of a rate hike by the Reserve Bank increased. Meanwhile, volatility was notable among lithium miners and tech stocks, with some companies like Polynovo and Nvidia showing gains, while others like Collins Foods and Harvey Norman experienced declines.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 8 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 6.5 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 38 points.
The SPI futures are down 64 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Information Technology, up 0.77 per cent. The worst-performing sector was REITs, down 2.09 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ), closing 6.25 per cent higher at $5.95. It was followed by shares in Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) and GQG Partners (ASX:GQG).
The worst-performing large cap was Harvey Norman Holdings (ASX:HVN), closing 8.3 per cent lower at $4.20. It was followed by shares in Alumina (ASX:AWC) and TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG).
Asian markets
Japan’s Nikkei has gained 1.26 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.23 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.40 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,322.70 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.1 per cent higher at US$103.75 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 2.37 per cent rise.
Light crude is trading $0.51 higher at US$81.34 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 66.87 US cents.