The Australian share market has given up its modest gains and closed basically flat after a hotter-than-expected third-quarter inflation readout increased the odds of another rate hike next month.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Wednesday finished down 2.6 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 6,854.3, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 0.7 points to 7,046.3.
The market had been up as much as 0.5 per cent in early trading but fell into the red after the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that consumer prices rose 1.2 per cent in the three months to September 30, with annual inflation coming in at 5.4 per cent.
Consensus forecasts had been for a 1.1 per cent quarterly lift and annual inflation softening to 5.3 per cent.
Following the readout, economists with Commonwealth Bank, Barclays Bank, AMP, ANZ, NAB, Betashares, Rabobank and the Royal Bank of Canada all separately predicted that the Reserve Bank would raise the cash rate to 4.35 per cent on November 7, Melbourne Cup Day.
RBA governor Michelle Bullock said Tuesday night that the board would "not hesitate to raise the cash rate further if there is a material upward revision to the outlook for inflation," NAB senior economist Taylor Nugent noted, and it was hard not to see Wednesday's report not meeting that bar.
The Australian dollar rose to a nearly two-week high against its US counterpart after the readout, on the expectations that rates would increase.
Just two of the ASX's 11 sectors finished in the green, but one was the heavyweight mining space, which rose 1.6 per cent as Beijing unveiled fresh fiscal stimulus measures to support construction and disaster relief.
BHP climbed 2.6 per cent to $44.72, Fortescue added 3.1 per cent to $22.02 and Rio Tinto gained 2.4 per cent to $116.27.
All the Big Four banks were lower, with CBA down 0.7 per cent to $97.35, ANZ falling 1.3 per cent to $24.85, Westpac dropping 0.4 per cent to $20.80 and NAB retreating 0.8 per cent to $28.32.
Woolworths dropped 2.0 per cent to $35.63 as the supermarket giant said sales were up 5.3 per cent for the 14 weeks to October 1 as fruit and vegetable and meat prices continued to fall.
Big W sales were down 5.8 per cent, however, with customers continuing to be cautious and trade down within categories, chief executive Brad Banducci said.
Corporate Travel Management gained 3.2 per cent to $17 and Flight Centre rose 3.5 per cent to $18.42 after the former announced a $100 million share buyback program, with CTM chairman Ewen Crouch telling the company's annual meeting that it sees a growing appetite for corporate travel.
The post-pandemic recovery in aviation also boosted Ampol, which grew 3.8 per cent to $32.94 as the petrol station owner said strong jet fuel sales had helped boost third-quarter earnings by 65 per cent to $438.2 million.
Dexus dropped 3.3 per cent to $6.70 as the office tower owner announced Darren Steinberg would step down as chief executive next year, after 11 years in the role.
Kogan.com climbed 8.7 per cent to $4.86 after the e-retailer said its gross profit increased 19.5 per cent to $37.4 million in the third quarter, and its Kogan FIRST subscriber program had risen to 440,000 paying members, up from 385,000 a year ago.
The Aussie was buying 63.77 US cents, from 63.55 US cents at Tuesday's ASX close.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 index finished Wednesday down 2.6 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 6,854.3.
* The All Ordinaries gained 0.7 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 7,046.3
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 63.77 US cents, from 63.55 US cents at Tuesday's ASX close
* 95.54 Japanese yen, from 95.15 yen
* 60.16 Euro cents, from 59.51 Euro cents
* 52.43 British pence, from 51.81 pence
* 108.97 NZ cents, from 108.60 NZ cents
