ASX little changed as traders await RBA call

The Australian sharemarket opened little changed on Tuesday as investors await a critical decision by the Reserve Bank on whether to reduce the official cash rate for the third time this cycle at 2.30pm AEST .
Markets have all but priced in a 25 basis point cut to bring the cash rate down to 3.6 per cent. It comes amid a sluggish lead in from Wall Street as the rally from April's lows lost momentum pending Tuesday's US July consumer prices report.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.8 points to 8845.60 at 10.15am AEST , with five of the11 index sectors higher.
Interest rate sensitive consumer discretionary and tech stocks were the strongest leaders as investors hoped another rate cut would help to growth the economy. Gains in the retail sector were led by JB Hi-Fi, which surged 5.2 per cent following a sharp loss on Monday, boosted by Macquarie's upgrade of the stock to 'outperform'. Breville also rose by 2.2 per cent.
In tech, Life360 soared 8.2 per cent as it reported revenue of $115.4 million in the second quarter, up 36 per cent year-on-year. This helped to offset gains elsewhere including a 0.7 per cent drop in Xero.
Industrials were the weakest sector as SGH fell 7.4 per cent after it lifted total dividends by 17 per cent to 62c following a $486 million profit in the past fiscal year. Brambles fell 0.4 per cent and Qantas lifted 0.4 per cent.
Stocks in focus
In company news, outdoor media company oOh!media firmed 0.8 per cent as it appointed James Taylor, currently SBS's managing director, as its next chief executive.
Coal miner Coronado Global Resources fell 5.9 per cent as it crashed to a $US172.4 million ($264.7 million) loss for the six months to June 30.
Meanwhile, Seven West Media dropped 3.3 per cent as it made just $17 million in profit from $1.4 billion in revenue last financial year.

Sumber : AFR