ASX 200 reaches record highs as top stocks rally on Fed rate cut hopes

The Australia 200 trades 53 points (0.61%) higher at 8880 as of 2.30pm AEST.

Record highs and Wall Street influence

The Australia 200 (ASX 200) raced out of the gates this morning, adding 72 points (+0.81%) in early trading to hit a fresh record high of 8899.1, marking its fourth consecutive record high this week.

This fresh record high followed gains on Wall Street overnight, as the momentum toward more aggressive Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts gained strength. The move was supported by Tuesday’s in-line United States (US) inflation report and dovish comments from Treasury Secretary Bessent overnight, who signalled that a 50-basis point (bp) Fed rate cut in September could be on the cards.

Domestic labour data supports cautious RBA

Closer to home, today’s July labour force data confirmed that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is on the right track with its cautious approach to rate cuts in 2025. The Australian economy added 24,500 jobs in July, in line with market expectations of 25,000. The unemployment rate eased slightly to 4.2% from 4.3%, also in line with forecasts, while the participation rate remained at 67%.

This in-line jobs report supports our view that the RBA will hold rates steady in September before a 25 bp cut in November and another in February 2026, which would see a terminal rate of 3.1%.

While the labour market data was encouraging, corporate Australia also delivered some notable performances.

ASX 200 stocks

Consumer discretionary sector

• Temple and Webster gained 7.79% to $28.10 after reporting an fiscal year (FY) 2025 annual profit of $11.3 million as sales jumped 21% to $600.7 million, bolstered by its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) for customer queries and product descriptions.

Financial sector

• Westpac gained 5.78% to $35.86, reaching its highest level in over ten years. It reported a third quarter (Q3) net profit of $1.9 billion, up 14% on the first half (H1) of 2025 average. Notably, net interest income increased by 4%, primarily due to the rise in the net interest margin (NIM) to 1.99%
• Suncorp rose 3.04% to $20.65 after releasing FY 2025 results showing net profit after tax (NPAT) of $1823 million, up from $1197 million in FY 2024. This growth was supported by demand for home and motor insurance and favourable market conditions.

Healthcare sector

• Pro Medicus soared 6.18% to $315.40 after reporting a 39% increase in FY 2025 profit to $115.2 million, with revenue rising 32% to $213 million.

Technology sector

• Telstra fell 2.71% to $4.84, despite reporting its FY 2025 results, which showed a 14% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to $8.6 billion and NPAT of $2.3 billion. The decline appears to be driven by investor disappointment with Telstra’s FY 2026 guidance, which introduced new metrics like underlying EBITDA after lease amortisation and cash EBITA, making comparisons to consensus estimates challenging.

ASX 200 technical analysis

Following the ASX 200’s push to fresh record highs this week, and given the ASX 200’s sensitivity to RBA rate cut expectations, we expect the ASX 200 to extend its gains towards the next upside target of 9000 in the weeks ahead.

This view is based on the ASX 200 remaining above support at 8630 - 8610ish.

ASX 200 daily chart

• _{Source: TradingView. The figures stated are as of 14 August 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.}