The laggards

Telix Pharmaceuticals sank the most of the large caps (down 5.9 per cent), followed by Ramsay Health Care, which shed 4.4 per cent, and Kiwi broadband provider Spark, down 4.3 per cent.

Fortescue lost 1 per cent despite posting an 18 per cent jump in net profit to $US5.7 billion ($8.4 billion). The company announced a final dividend of 89¢ a share. BHP dropped 1.4 per cent, while Rio Tinto lost 0.9 per cent.

Tabcorp shares tanked 15 per cent after the wagering company unveiled a $1.36 billion loss for the 2024 financial year, which was worse than predicted by analysts.

New boss Gillon McLachlan has vowed to overhaul the company’s strategy, saying its previous savings targets had not been realistic, and that he expects the macroeconomic environment to remain challenging for the company.

The lowdown

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David Bassanese, chief economist at Betashares, said the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ July CPI report showed “a welcome further slowing in annual inflation”.

But he said the data, which showed consumer prices had risen 3.5 per cent in the 12 months to July, down from 3.8 per cent the month prior, was still “a touch higher” than market expectations and appeared heavily influenced by the introduction of energy price subsidies by the federal and some state governments.

“The RBA is not likely to be overly excited by the result, and it does not add to the case for a rate cut anytime soon,” he said.

Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro, said Woolworths’ results, which showed the supermarket giant has on some measures fallen behind rival Coles, were still positive in what was “a challenging environment for consumers”. He said the company had succeeded in attracting customers through its own brand products, “helping to drive sales”.

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“Many had expected a weak outlook to start this year, but we didn’t get that. Although the next fiscal year won’t be easy, it gives investors room to be cautiously optimistic,” he said.

The big four banks all finished the day stronger. The Australian dollar was buying US67.94¢.

On Wall Street overnight, the benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each finished 0.2 per cent higher after drifting between small gains and losses most of the day. The S&P 500 is now within 0.8 per cent of its record high set last month. The Dow Jones edged up by less than 0.1 per cent, which was good enough for its second all-time high in two days. The index is on an eight-day winning streak.

The S&P 500 and Dow have been hovering around all-time highs since last week amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.

Investors are looking ahead to Friday, when the US government releases its latest data on inflation with the PCE, or personal consumption and expenditures report, for July.

It’s the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, which has signalled that long-awaited interest rate cuts are coming.

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“The customer changed their attitude in coming into the store, and all of a sudden they saw us as price-gougers, and therefore there was huge urgency we needed to have to prove that we weren’t,” said outgoing Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci as he gave his last set of earnings results, capping off eight years at the helm.

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Fortescue has beefed up its dividend payout for the full year despite posting a modest jump in profit, handing a $2.24 billion windfall to the iron ore miner’s biggest shareholders Andrew and Nicola Forrest.

with AP