ASX 200 closes in red amid US inflation fears

Highlights:

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed 2.58% down to end at 6,828.60 points today (as of 4:17 PM AEST, 14 September 2022).
• Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.48%, but is down 8.27% for the last year to date.
• All 11 sectors ended the day in red zone.
• A-REIT was the worst performing sector losing 4.18% followed by IT which closed 3.15% lower.

Australian share market closed on a negative note today (14 September 2022) with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 losing 2.58% to end at 6,828.60 points.

The stock market experienced its worst decline in three months caused by investors revaluating the outlook for interest rates in response to surprisingly strong US inflation statistics.

Key pointers from ASX close today:

• The ASX 200 benchmark index closed 2.58% down to end at 6,828.60 points today.
• Top performing stocks were Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB) and Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX:TYR), up 3.83% and 1.52% respectively.
• Bottom performing stocks in this index were Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) and Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI), ending 10.01% and 7.47% lower respectively.
• Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.48%, but is down 8.27% for the last year to date.
• All 11 sectors ended the day in red zone.
• A-REIT was the worst performing sector losing 4.18% followed by IT which closed 3.15% lower.
• Volatility indicator A-VIX index was up 11.24% at 4.47 PM AEST.
• The All-ordinaries Index fell 2.51%.

Newsmakers

Cokal (ASX:CKA): In the coking coal mine at Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM), Cokal has achieved a new milestone, the company informed in an ASX filing.

Australian-based Cokal wants to expand its global position as a producer of metallurgical coal.

It owns stakes in four projects in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan, all of which are thought to have a good chance of producing metallurgical coal. The Indonesian government and Cokal jointly manage the BBM website.

Meanwhile, shares of Cokal closed trading flat at AU$0.23 each.

Power Minerals (ASX:PNI): Power Minerals will raise around $5.5 million through a placement.

The funding will support operations at the company's projects. This will mostly be used to enhance work programs at its Salta lithium project, and this month, a resource delineation drill campaign is scheduled to get underway.

Meanwhile, shares of Power Minerals last exchanged hands at AU$0.72 each, up 9.92% on ASX today.

Image Source: © 2022 Kalkine Media ® 
Data Source- ASX website dated 14 September 2022

Bond yield

Australia’s 10-year Bond Yield stands at 3.65% as of 5.09 PM AEST.

In global markets

Stronger-than-expected inflation statistics undermined investors' hopes that the Fed may moderately boost the interest rate while dialling back its aggressive monetary plans in the coming days, causing US stocks to experience a significant dip on Tuesday, 13 September, ending their winning streak.

The Labor Department's consumer price index (CPI) data for the US revealed that inflation increased 0.1% on a monthly basis in August after remaining steady in July.

As per the Labor Department’s CPI report, CPI increased at an annual pace of 8.3% year-over-year (YoY) in August, down from an 8.5% jump in July and 9.1% in June. The reading rate in June was the fastest in more than 40 years.

The S&P 500 fell 4.32% to 3,932.69. The Dow Jones was down 3.94% to 31,104.97. The NASDAQ Composite lost 5.16% to 11,633.57, and the small-cap Russell 2000 fell 3.91% to 1,831.57.

In Asia, the Asia Dow was down 1.29%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong decreased by 2.35% while Nikkei in Japan fell 2.78% and Shanghai Composite in China decreased by 0.80% at 5.09 PM AEST.

In commodities markets

Crude Oil WTI was spotted trading at US$86.31/bbl while Brent Oil was at US$92.29/bbl at 5.15 PM AEST.

Gold was at US$1701.66 an ounce, copper was at US$3.569/Lbs and iron ore was at US$106/T at 5.16 PM AEST.