Australia 200 afternoon report: 17 April 2025

The |Australia 200 trades 42 points (0.55%) higher at 7801 as of 2.00pm AEDT.

Can Australia 200 extend gains amid solid March jobs report?

The Australia 200 has shaken off heavy falls on Wall Street overnight and is set to wrap up a holiday-shortened week with a respectable gain of approximately 2%.

Today's moderate gains occurred on thin volumes and followed the release of a robust Australian jobs report for March. The economy added 32,200 jobs in March, slightly below market expectations of a 40,000 increase. The unemployment rate rose marginally to 4.1% from February's revised 4.0%, still below the anticipated 4.2%.

Sean Crick, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) head of labour statistics, said: ‘With employment increasing by 32,000 people and the number of unemployed increasing by 3000 people, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1% for March.’

The March rebound from a significant 52,800 jobs decline in February underscores ongoing labour market resilience. Despite the positive jobs data, ongoing downside risks to global growth and a softer near-term inflation outlook suggest the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will likely proceed with a 25 basis point (bp) interest rate cut in both May and July.

Australia 200 stocks

Property sector

Expectations of an imminent RBA rate cut provided a lift.

• Lend Lease gained 1.53% to $5.30
• Goodman Group rose 1.16% to $27.97
• Stockland increased 0.88% to $5.16

Energy sector

Strengthening crude oil prices above $62 per barrel buoyed energy stocks.

• Ampol surged 6.63% to $22.02
• Beach Energy climbed 5.09% to $1.18
• Woodside Energy added 3.21% to $19.94
• Santos rose 2.73% to $5.64, reporting a 2% production rise in the March quarter

Mining sector

BHP’s third-quarter production held steady, supporting miner gains

• BHP rose 1.28% to $36.52, maintaining iron ore production at 61.8 million tonnes
• Mineral Resources advanced 3.73% to $17.19
• Rio Tinto added 2.52% to $111.12
• Fortescue Metals Group edged 0.47% higher to $15.03

Technology sector

US-imposed AI chip export restrictions continued to weigh heavily

• Appen fell 4.7% to $0.81
• Wisetech Global lost 2.53% to $81.73
• Seek slipped 2.36% to $20.26
• Zip declined 2.03% to $1.69

Australia 200 technical analysis

From its February high of 8615, the Australia 200 fell 882 points (10.23%) to a mid-March low of 7733 (Wave I or A in Elliott Wave Analysis), before rebounding to 8014 (Wave ii or B). From the late March 8014 high, the ASX200 fell 844 points to last Monday’s 7169 low, before rebounding.

Putting this together, the fall from the 8014 high is viewed as the third leg of (Wave C), a three-wave ABC correction from the February 8615 high, rather than a new bear market.

However, a sustained move above 7800 is needed to increase confidence in this view. Until then, a retest of the 7169 low is possible.

Australia 200 daily chart

• _{Source: TradingView. The figures stated are as of 17 April 2025. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This report does not contain and is not to be taken as containing any financial product advice or financial product recommendation.}