The Reserve Bank is closely watching the strength of the labour market to decide whether to cut official interest rates.

The next important figure for the central bank – and the market – is consumer price data, which will be released next week. The RBA’s next cash rate decision will be announced on May 7.

Mega-cap tech stocks WiseTech and NextDC both rose 2 per cent, while Xero rose 0.4 per cent.

Qantas (up 3.4 per cent) was the best performing large-cap stock, followed by GQG Partners (up 2.6 per cent) and Atlas Arteria Group (up 2.5 per cent).

Shares of embattled casino operator Star Entertainment rose 1.2 per cent amid news that pubs and pokies baron Bruce Mathieson increased his stake in the company from 8.2 per cent to 9.5 per cent over the past week, as management has been fronting an inquiry into its business practices.

The laggards

Healthcare (down 0.5 per cent) was the worst-performing sector after ResMed shares tumbled 4.3 per cent amid investor concerns that new diet drugs could steal market share from the company. Shares in CSL, one of the largest companies on the ASX, were also down 0.4 per cent.

Mercury NZ shares dipped 6 per cent, Evolution Mining 3.8 per cent and BlueScope Steel 2.4 per cent.

The lowdown

Eightcap market analyst Zoran Kresovic said the unemployment figures, which came lower than expectations of 3.9 per cent, indicated the economy was relatively healthy.

“The market is repricing itself,” Kresovic said. “The RBA’s next meeting will be crucial because that’s going to pave the way for whether we get any interest-rate cuts this year. The market had been pricing the first rate cut in August or September.”

On Wall Street overnight, the US sharemarket continued its longest losing streak since January, as a handful of big-tech shares sold off.

The S&P 500 Index dipped 0.6 per cent, extending its losses from a record high to more than 4 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed relatively flat while the Nasdaq Composite index tumbled 1.1 per cent.

Chipmakers bore the brunt of the selling after semiconductor company ASML Holding reported its orders are tumbling. Artificial Intelligence chip giant Nvidia led the large-cap losses, dipping 3.9 per cent.

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“I think there’s a range of areas where we need to do much better with the younger generation, basically, and HECs is one of them,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, flagging possible changes to student debt rules in the federal budget. “What we’ve done is we’re developing a Universities Accord, essentially with all of the universities across the board. And what that has said is that the system can be made simpler and be made fairer.”

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