The Australian sharemarket slumped on Wednesday, led lower by health care and industrial stocks after quarterly inflation data came in hotter than expected, all but eliminating the prospect of another Reserve Bank rate cut this year.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 86.3 points, or 1%, to 8,926.2, with seven of the 11 industry sectors finishing in the red.
The healthcare sector remained the biggest laggard, extending Tuesday’s losses as CSL shed 4% following its annual general meeting.
Other major healthcare names also weakened, with Pro Medicus down 4.4%, Cochlear losing 2.2% and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare retreating 1%.
Telix Pharmaceuticals slipped 1.6% after announcing it would release 45,584 ordinary shares from voluntary escrow on 6 November.
Industrials lost 2% overall, with Brambles and Transurban falling 1.9% apiece, while Computershare shed 2.4%.
The financials sector weighed heavily on the index, with Commonwealth Bank falling 2.1%, National Australia Bank down 2.6%, Westpac retreating 3.1% and ANZ declining 0.4%.
Rate-sensitive A-REITs dropped as Goodman Group dipped 1.4%, Charter Hall lost 2.7%, Mirvac fell 2.1% and Scentre Group lost 1.2%.
Among outperformers, Nick Scali surged 12.7% after reporting strong first-quarter ANZ sales, with total written orders up 11.6% and first-half profit expected to reach $33–35 million.
Woolworths rose 2.4% despite quarterly sales of $18.5 billion falling short of internal targets. Sales were up 2.7% year-on-year, and Chief Executive Amanda Bardwell told investors there was “more work to be done” to win back customers.
On the bond market, yields climbed sharply following the inflation surprise, with the 10-year rate up 1.5% to 4.233% and the 2-year jumping 3.4% to 3.552%.
