Close enough, but not the big brass ring, again.
The ASX 200 fell just short of a new record on Monday afternoon for the third time in less than a week – this time it was the closest.
It was all about whether the ASX 200 would finally hit a new all-time high with the unlikely drivers the collection of well-performed techs and not the banks.
But everyone knows its all about the Fed’s expected rate cut announcement on Thursday morning, Sydney time. All other suggested influences are not in the game at the moment.
A rate cut of 0.25% is expected but a bunch of fantasists expected a half a percent cut. And if the Fed doesn’t cut, watched the markets slide, slide, slide. But that remains highly unlikely.
The ASX 200 index rose 32.4 points to close at 6825.8 points and got as high as 6834.4 points. The close was just over two points short of the all-time close on November 1, 2007, of 6828.7, while the intraday high topped the high but couldn’t sustain the gain.
The All Ordinaries index also rose, adding 32 points, or 0.5%, to 6911.4, also its highest ever close its third in a week.
A solid night on Wall Street overnight Monday could very well see the ASX 200 finally top its previous high.
The financial and healthcare sectors added the most points, while information technology and communications had the biggest gains, rising 1.8 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. The real estate sector underperformed with a decline of 0.7 percent.
The biggest gain today was Afterpay, up 4%, and SpeedCast International, up 3.8%, and Vocus Group added 3.5%.
Other techs also did well. Wisetech Global shares rose 1.8%, Altium was up 3% and shares in Appen closed up more than 4%.
Telstra shares added 1.6%.
The biggest decliner in the ASX 200 was Credit Corp, down 6.2% (See separate story).
GUD Holdings dropped for a second day, down 4.3%, and Crown Resorts lost 3.3% thanks to the adverse media stories about its China customer harvesting.
