Australia Market Extends losses on policy tightening woes

The Australian market closed lower for second straight session on Thursday, 18 March 2021, as investors continued withdrawing profit off the table on renewed concerns that the RBA will have to withdraw some part of its easy monetary policy sooner rather than later after release of the better-than-expected improvement in February's unemployment rate.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell 49.32 points, or 0.73%, to 6,745.91. The broader All Ordinaries shed 44.39 points, or 0.63%, to 7,003.61.

Healthcare stocks fell more than 1.5%, their biggest in nearly two weeks, after a seven-session winning streak. CSL slid nearly 2%, while Cochlear fell over 2.6%.

 

Technology stocks declined about 1.3% after two straight session of gains. Afterpay shed 1.8%, while WiseTech Global finished 0.7% weaker.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Unemployment Rate Falls Sharply In February- Australia's jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.8% in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, down sharply from 6.4% in January. The Australian economy added 88,700 jobs last month to 13,006,900 following the increase of 29,100 in the previous month. Full-time employment increased by 89,100 to 8,895,000 people, and part-time employment decreased by 500 to 4,111,900 people. Over the year to February 2021, full-time employment increased by 5,500 people and part-time employment decreased by 7,300 people. Over the year to February 2021, employment decreased 1,800 people, less than 0.1%. The participation rate came in at 66.1% - unchanged from the previous month.

CURRENCY NEWS: The US dollar tumbled against a basket of its peers as the dollar index fell from levels near 91.900 before the Fed decision. During Asian trading hours on Thursday, the index rose 0.22% to 91.642. The Japanese yen changed hands at 109.20 per dollar, weakening from an earlier level around 108.62, while the Australian dollar rose 0.12% to $0.7803.

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