25.08.202507:24:10UTC+00Australian Shares Finish Slightly Higher

The S&P/ASX 200 inched up by 0.1%, closing at 8,972 on Monday. It momentarily reached a record high in the morning session, driven by higher iron ore prices and a broad appetite for risk amid increasing expectations of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve. Investor sentiment was bolstered following Fed Chair Jerome Powell's indication of a potential rate cut in September during his speech at Jackson Hole, raising optimism for macroeconomic stability. Analysts suggested that such actions often benefit Australia, as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) tends to follow the Fed's lead. In corporate developments, the mining index surged by 2.8%, spurred by a rise in iron ore prices after Rio Tinto ceased operations at its Simandou project, resulting in a 2.4% increase in Rio shares and a 2.7% boost for BHP. Other commodity stocks saw gains as well, with the energy and gold indexes rising by 1.1% and 2.8%, respectively. Conversely, the financial index dropped by 1.2%, as investors took profits following a robust performance, with analyst Wulff pointing out a shift from overvalued financials to undervalued small- and mid-cap stocks.