Back home, mining giant BHP, which is pivoting to copper to broaden its earnings base beyond iron ore, which has seen demand peak, added 0.86 per cent. Copper rose 3.7 per cent and is up more than 40 per cent for the year on strong demand. The base metal is critical to global energy infrastructure, and demand is expected to keep growing as the development of artificial intelligence technology puts more of a strain on data centres and the energy grid.
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Oil and gas heavyweights Woodside and Santos rose 0.94 per cent and 0.98 per cent, respectively. Crude oil prices were relatively steady. The price of US crude oil was mostly unchanged. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.1 per cent.
On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 edged down 0.1 per cent, its third consecutive decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite were both down 0.2 per cent.
Apart from the release of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes, which showed most officials see additional interest rate cuts as appropriate if inflation declines over time as expected, there has generally been a lack of major catalysts to move markets this week, especially as news flow and trading volumes have been muted.
The record of the US central bank’s most recent meeting highlighted the divisions among its officials and how difficult it was for them to lower rates by a quarter percentage point earlier this month. Some Fed officials made it clear they believe rates should remain on hold “for some time” after the December gathering.
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“A few of those who supported lowering the policy rate at this meeting indicated that the decision was finely balanced or that they could have supported keeping the target range unchanged,” the minutes said.
What the equity market needs next year is a dovish US central bank, Amanda Agati, PNC Asset Management Group’s chief investment officer, said on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday.
“I joke that the equity market is like a kid in a candy store, braving a sugar high for more policy accommodation, a more dovish Fed – but it doesn’t know what’s good for it,” she said. “The bond market is the adult in the room taking away the last lollipop.”
The largest weights on the US market remained technology companies, especially those focused on advancements for artificial intelligence. Nvidia edged down 0.2 per cent and Apple fell 0.5 per cent. Both companies have outsized values that have a greater overall impact on the market’s broader direction.
AP, with AAP and Bloomberg
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