Australian Market

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.5% lower, with most sectors finishing in the red after the Reserve Bank of Australia’s ninth-consecutive increase in interest rates and a signal for more ahead. Property trusts and healthcare were the biggest losers, falling 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively.

US Market 

U.S. stocks finished higher as traders reacted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first remarks since the job market’s surprisingly strong showing Friday. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%. Stocks gained ground shortly after Powell began speaking. But a flurry of selling then sent indexes back into the red, although stocks regained positive territory later in the afternoon.  

“I really thought his messaging was shockingly consistent with what he said last week,” said David Bahnsen, chief investment officer at The Bahnsen Group. “The market move is clearly and obviously related to people who tried to front-run his remarks having to cover their positions.”

Commodities

Gold prices finished higher, finding support as the U.S. dollar paused its recent rise after the Fed chairman’s remarks. April gold prices rose 0.3% to settle at $1,884.80 per ounce on Comex.

Oil Futures

Oil futures settled at their highest in a week, finding support on ongoing hopes for a revival in crude demand from China and on oil supply issues in the Middle East following a massive earthquake in Turkey. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery rose 4.1% to settle at $77.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest front-month contract finish since Jan. 31, according to Dow Jones Market Data. April Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 3.3% to $83.69 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, also the highest in a week.

Forex

Major currencies were stronger against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro rose from lows near US$1.0666 to highs near US$1.0761 and was near US$1.0725 at the US close. The
Aussie dollar firmed from lows near US68.86 cents to highs near US69.83 cents and was near US69.50 cents at the US close. And the Japanese yen rose from near 132.32 yen per US dollar to around JPY130.52 and was near JPY131.10 at the US close.

European Markets

European sharemarkets closed higher on Tuesday. The energy sector was the top performer, rising 3%, boosted by an 8% jump in shares of BP after the oil major reported record profits in 2022
and hiked its dividend. Banks were up 1.2% after BNP Paribas (+2.6%) posted upbeat revenue growth. The FTSEurofirst 300 index lifted 0.2% and the UK FTSE 100 index gained 0.4%.

Asian Markets

Earlier, in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average ended flat amid speculation that Masayoshi Amamiya has been nominated as the next governor of Bank of Japan. Financial stocks advanced. Chinese shares ended the session broadly higher as investor sentiment was buoyed by supportive measures for the property market.

Property stocks led the gains. Some AI-related stocks rallied after Baidu confirmed that it will launch an artificial intelligence chat bot in March. Telecom and travel stocks weighed. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.3% higher, the Shenzhen Composite Index rose by 0.4%, and the ChiNext Price Index ended 0.2% lower.