ASX flat but near record high, US dollar falls to three-year low

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Australian dollar is firmly back above 65 US cents as the US greenback dipped to a new three-year low after Donald Trump said he would make an early announcement on the next Federal Reserve chair. In other finance news, the ASX 200 was flat, but near a record high, on hopes the Israel-Iran ceasefire will continue to hold. Finance presenter David Chau explains.

Transcript

00:00Well, the remarkable thing about the share market these days is its extreme optimism

00:07and its ability to just ignore bad news. The Australian market, for instance, is just a

00:12whisker away from a record high. It's as if Donald Trump never started his trade wars

00:17against the rest of the world, judging by how desensitised we've become to news stories

00:22about tariffs, which admittedly pale in comparison to fears about the Israel-Iran war spreading

00:28beyond the Middle East. But now, even that's no longer a concern, with the All Lords and

00:33ASX finishing pretty much flat, but still close to that record. Overseas, NVIDIA's record

00:39high share price helped the S&P 500 remain steady, while markets were down in most other

00:44places. Meanwhile, oil prices are at US$68 a barrel, so they're back to where they were

00:50as if Israel and Iran never got into war with each other. And finally, the Aussie dollar

00:56is firmly back above US$65 after the US greenback fell to a fresh three-year low, after President

01:04Trump said he might announce the next chair of the US Federal Reserve within the next four

01:09months. Presumably, it'll be someone who's more compliant and willing to cut interest rates

01:14when he tells them to. Speaking of which, the odds of Australia's Reserve Bank cutting rates

01:19in July are apparently almost certain, after yesterday's weaker-than-expected inflation figures.

01:26Markets are now pricing in four rate cuts by June next year, but that could change again

01:30very quickly, and part of that will depend on any rogue tweets from a certain US president.

01:36And that's finance.

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