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Energy (up 0.4 per cent) was the only sector in the green, as heavyweight Woodside gained 0.8 per cent and Ampol climbed 0.5 per cent. Meridian (up 2.4 per cent), GQG Partners (up 2.9 per cent) and Lynas Rare Earths (up 2.8 per cent) were among the biggest large-cap advancers.

The laggards

Growth stocks and miners were among the biggest large-cap decliners on the local bourse. Hearing implants maker Cochlear (down 6.9 per cent) and tech firms WiseTech (down 3.9 per cent) and Xero (down 2.8 per cent) all declined amid a 1.8 per cent drop in the IT sector and 0.4 per cent fall in the health sector.

Miners (down 1.1 per cent) were also weaker as the world’s largest miner BHP lost 1.1 per cent, rival heavyweight Fortescue shed 2.9 per cent and diversified miner South32 fell 2.8 per cent. The iron ore price dropped 0.5 per cent overnight.

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Utilities (down 0.9 per cent) were among the weakest on the index as Origin shed 1 per cent and AGL lost 1.4 per cent.

The lowdown

eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said the RBA’s decision was unsurprising, but that its accompanying statement kept its hawkish bias intact.

“Ostensibly, Bullock has learnt from Lowe’s prior mistake of overpromising future economic stability,” he said. “The RBA will keep this tightening rhetoric and push back on market pricing for now because if they give an inch, the market will take a mile.”

While Gilbert said the board had clearly finished raising interest rates, and were unlikely to act on this hawkish tone, he said it had impacted market expectations on the trajectory of rates.

“Last week, markets priced in almost three cuts in 2024, but today’s statement and conference, alongside [US Federal Reserve chair] Jerome Powell’s pushback on Fed cuts last week, have seen pricing dramatically change, with a rate cut not fully priced until September,” he said.

Overnight on Wall Street, US stocks slipped following the latest signal that the world’s largest economy remains strong, which could delay the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street wants. The S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent from the all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones dropped 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq composite edged down by 0.2 per cent.

The US earnings season is near its midpoint, and roughly half the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their latest results, including many of the market’s most influential. Estée Lauder jumped 12 per cent after it reported better revenue and profit than analysts expected. McDonald’s, meanwhile, fell 3.7 per cent after its revenue for the latest quarter fell just short of forecasts.

Companies that have been missing analysts’ estimates for earnings this reporting season have been seeing their stocks get punished even more than usual, according to strategists at Bank of America.

Shares broadly felt pressure from another jump for yields in the bond market. They rose as traders on Wall Street delayed their expectations for when the US Federal Reserve will begin cutting its main interest rate.

The Fed has yanked the federal funds rate to its highest level since 2001 to bring down high inflation. High rates intentionally slow the economy by making borrowing more expensive and hurting investment prices.

US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said again in an interview broadcast on Sunday (US time) that the Fed may cut interest rates three times this year because inflation has been cooling. But he also reiterated in the interview on America’s 60 Minutes that it was unlikely to begin rate cuts in March, as many traders had hoped.

Following the interview, traders pushed out some bets for the cuts to begin in June instead of May, according to data from CME Group.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“Unlike many start-up ecosystems worldwide, Australia continues to go from strength to strength,” said Chris Gillings, founder of Cut Through Venture, even as investment in large technology start-ups fell off a cliff last year.

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With AP

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