The ASX 200 has surged on Tuesday as investors are buoyed by hopes of a rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia and markets bouncing back up in the United States.
Investors will have a close eye on the RBA’s interest rate call at 2.30pm, where the central bank is highly expected to deliver the second cut this year and bring the cash rate below four per cent for the first time since 2023.
The market surged 0.7 per cent in the first 20 minutes of trading with Life360 up 2.3 per cent, Capstone Copper up two per cent and BlueScope Steel rising 1.6 per cent.
Investors are encouraged as money markets say there is a 99.5 per cent chance the RBA will drop the cash rate by 0.25 per cent, bringing it down half a per cent since the central bank began cutting rates after the pandemic.
In the US, major indexes slumped after opening on Monday before more than recovering following Moody’s downgraded the US’ credit rating due to ballooning debt and deficit.
The S&P 500 finished up 0.1 per cent, the Nasdaq was 0.02 per cent in the green and the Dow Jones was 0.3 per cent up on its Friday closing price.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 250 Index finished down less than 0.1 per cent while Germany’s DAX rose 0.7 per cent and the EURO STOXX 50 Index finished flat.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index has risen 0.4 per cent since trading opened on Tuesday and Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 0.8 per cent.
