ASX drops on IMF warning
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 (^AXJO) has closed 0.39 per cent lower, after two days of gains.
The broader All Ordinaries index (^AORD) also dipped 0.35 per cent at close.
The Australian dollar was buying 63.81 US cents, down from 64.10 US cents at the close of markets on Tuesday.
What happened this morning?
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 (^AXJO) has crept 0.17 per cent higher at the open, after a strong overnight session on Wall Street.
The broader All Ordinaries index (^AORD) also rose 0.22 per cent at 10.05 AEST, after finishing up 1.90 per cent higher last night.
Commonwealth Bank fell 0.25 per cent to $62.59, while ANZ dropped 0.6 per cent to $16.68 and Westpac shed 0.86 per cent to $16.13.
NAB rose 0.06 per cent to $16.55 and Macquarie Group climbed 1.34 per cent to $103.17.
Health benchmark CSL was up 0.71 per cent to $328.29, with Ramsay, Cochlear and Sonic Healthcare climbing by between 0.35 per cent and 3.36 per cent.
What happened overnight?
US stocks jumped on optimism that President Donald Trump could move to ease lockdown measures imposed due to the coronavirus, as New York’s hospitalisations fell for the first time since the onset of the pandemic.
"The market is going up on prospects of the economy reopening soon and also the coronavirus (possibly) reaching some sort of peak," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
However, Cardillo warned we may not be out of the woods yet, with further sharp selling to come once data showing the extent of the economic damage from the virus is released.
"We're going to see (macroeconomic) numbers that are going to be frightening, and that will weigh."
With AAP.
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