By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 was 34.40 points or 0.49% higher at 7,006.00 on Tuesday, recovering from losses of 0.26% in the previous session as the Reserve Bank of Australia maintained its current cash rate of 0.1% while confirming the end of its $A4 billion per week bond buying program later in the month.
Among stocks, the Technology and Utilities sector posted the biggest gains, up 2.41% and 2.57% respectively.
Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) lifted 7.9%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) added 0.74%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) lifted 2.53%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) gained 16.14%, Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) added 3.5%, Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) gained 1.39%, Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) added 0.95% and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) gained 1.59%.
Rate sensitive utilities stocks were also boosted and Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) lifted 3.91%, APA Group (ASX:APA) gained 2.72% and Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX:MEZ) added 0.96%.
Financials closed higher, as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) gained 2.72%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) added 0.2%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) gained 1.88%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lifted 0.49% while Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) closed flat at 93.93.
Materials retreated however, as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) lost 2.38%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) dipped 3.06%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lost 0.7%, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) dipped 0.45%, Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) fell 0.54% and OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:OZL) lost 0.58%.
In policy news, RBA officials noted today that their central forecast is for underlying inflation to increase further in the coming quarters to about 3.25%, before declining to about 2.75% over 2023 as supply-side problems are resolved and consumption patterns normalise.
“Inflation has picked up more quickly than the RBA had expected, but remains lower than in many other countries,” Governor Philip Lowe said in his statement. “While inflation has picked up, it is too early to conclude that it is sustainably within the target band.”
Bond markets were little changed as the Australia 10-Year yield hovered around 1.89% while the United States 10-Year rate was slightly lower at 1.773%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 finished 1.43% higher at 12,059.