Market wrap: Australian shares fall ahead of US election

The Australian sharemarket dipped lower on Tuesday as investor jitters took hold ahead of a knife-edge US Presidential election.

The benchmark ASX200 slipped 32.8 points, or 0.4 per cent, to close at 8131.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 35 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 8387.8.

The All Technology index declined 0.44 per cent to 3530.8.

The sell-off was pervasive, with all 11 industry sectors ending in the red, led by utilities with a 0.71 per cent decline and financials with a 0.62 per cent pullback.

Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.35 per cent to $143.85 a share, Westpac fell 1.48 per cent to $31.92, ANZ lost 0.51 per cent to $31.10 and NAB shed 0.18 per cent to $38.64.

Tuesday’s fall followed an uneasy night on Wall St overnight Monday, with all major indexes selling off before what is expected to be a close vote in the US.

The Dow Jones shed 257 points, or 0.61 per cent, to settle at 41,794, while the S and P 500 index lost 0.28 per cent to 5712 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.33 per cent to 18,179.

“Markets, more broadly, are chomping at the bit for US election certainty, before the US Federal Reserve’s expected rate cut later this week,” moomoo market strategist Jessica Amir said.

“The Nasdaq moved between gains and losses, with Nvidia briefly overtaking Apple’s US$3.4t valuation at one point.

“The S and P 500 continued its fall, slipping 0.3 per cent and now standing 2.7 per cent down from its high.

“Oil moved up 2.9 per cent and the market’s fear index is back up again, with the VIX at ominous levels as US polls depict a deadlocked race.”

The US Fed will deliver its November rate cut decision on Thursday morning.

The Reserve Bank of Australia held the cash rate steady at 4.35 per cent on Tuesday afternoon but warned underlying inflation in the economy was “too high”.

But the hawkish rhetoric did not seem to move markets, with the ASX200 holding steady in afternoon trade following the 2.30pm announcement.

“The RBA remains on the hawkish side in the global central bank spectrum as it continues to stay away from the clear signalling of rate cuts,” Saxo Asia Pacific chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said.

“That clearly fails to make an impact on markets, especially coming on a day when markets are awaiting the US election results in a closely-tied race, as well as announcements of further stimulus measures from China.”

The materials sector slipped into the red in late trading, even as Singapore iron ore futures lifted 1.52 per cent to $105.50.

BHP ended the day relatively flat at $42.63, while Rio Tinto lost 0.27 per cent to $119.42 and Fortescue fell 0.68 per cent to $19.09.

In corporate news, pizza maker Domino’s was the benchmark’s largest laggard, slumping 6.26 per cent to $31.60 after announcing its long-serving CEO Don Meij would step down after 22 years in the top job.

Throughout his reign, Domino’s escalated rapidly, moving from 387 stores in 2005 and yearly sales of $300m to more than 3700 stores across 12 markets in 2024 and sales of more than $4bn.

But the firm has struggled this year, with the stock now down 46.7 per cent year-to-date.

In its latest trading update, the company said same-store sales had slipped 1.2 per cent in the first 17 weeks of the 2025 financial year, against a 2.7 per cent rise in the prior corresponding period.

The top gainer on the ASX200 was Lifestyle Communities, jumping 7.69 per cent to $9.10 after notifying the market on Monday evening that HMC Capital Partners had become a substantial holder in the company.

The Aussie dollar gained 0.16 per cent to buy US65.9c at the closing bell.