The Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price spent today in the green while all its S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank peers struggled. Was it a miracle?
Likely not. Let's take a look at what could have weighed on Macquarie's ASX 200 peers and why the investment bank appears to have dodged it.
As of Wednesday's close, the Macquarie share price is 0.99% higher than its previous close at $179.24.
For context, the ASX 200 rose 0.36% today while the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (AXSX: XFJ) slumped 2.85%.
Is this buoying the Macquarie share price?
Macquarie traded higher amid a sea of red on Wednesday. Some of its ASX 200 bank peers– like Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) – fell as much as 7.2% today.
Shares in the 'big four' all plunged lower. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares were the hardest hit – falling 6.1%.
Meanwhile, those in Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) slumped 4.4%, 3.9%, and 2.3% respectively.
As my colleague Bernd Struben reported earlier today, their suffering follows the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to hike interest rates by 0.5% on Tuesday.
Macquarie joined Westpac, CBA, and ANZ in passing the rate rise onto customers on Wednesday.
While rate rises allow banks to increase their net interest margins, bolstering profits, it also means their funding costs increase.
On top of that, higher rates might weigh on housing prices – which is bad news for most banks.
So, is there a reason the Macquarie share price is the only of the ASX 200 banks avoiding the downturn?
One reason might be because the bank just doesn't deal with many home loans. Thus, it might face fewer headwinds following the RBA's decision.
Asset finance broker and comparison service Savvy released an analysis on Australia's mortgage market earlier this year.
It found Macquarie held just 3.32% of the market in 2021. That was around $60 billion worth of home loans compared to its current $68 billion market capitalisation, courtesy of the ASX.
Of course, there could be numerous other happenings behind the Macaque share price's gains today. But mystery is sometimes the nature of the market.
