Yahoo Finance Markets tumble as RBA takes radical steps
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 finished 3.44 per cent lower on Thursday as the Reserve Bank of Australia announces major new measures to shore up the Australian economy.
The broader All Ordinaries also finished lower, down 3.79 per cent.
The drop comes after the RBA announced it would cut the official interest rate to a record low of 0.25 per cent in a rare out-of-cycle rate cut.
What happened this morning?
Australian sharemarkets opened higher on Thursday ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) anticipated measures to protect the Australian economy.
The S&P/ASX200 index was up 89 points or 1.80 per cent as of 10:19am AEDT on Thursday morning, while the All Ordinaries index also opened higher, up 1.60 per cent as traders prepare for the RBA’s long-awaited announcement.
The RBA is due to make an announcement at 2:30pm AEDT today, with experts and economists predicting the central bank will lower rates to a record low 0.25 per cent after the US Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand also lowered rates.
This morning’s performance comes off the back of another messy day for local markets, finishing 6.4 per cent lower on Wednesday.
And it follows a disastrous day on Wall Street; overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly all the gains it had made since Donald Trump’s election as president.
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