It's been a day for the record books this Wednesday for ASX shares. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), after a remarkable recovery over the last two months, has just hit a new all-time record high.
Yesterday, the ASX 200 closed at 8,587.2 points, only a whisker below the previous all-time high of 8,615.2 points that we saw hit back in February. But this morning, the index quickly exceeded that high after a burst of optimistic buying, quickly rising as high as 8,639.1 points soon after market open. You guessed it, that's the new high watermark for ASX 200 shares.
At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has cooled off a little, but still remains up by a healthy 0.39% at roughly 8,620 points.
As we stated at the outset, this represents a stunning recovery for the ASX 200. It was only back in early April that the ASX 200 was under 7,400 points, battered by the 'Liberation Day' tariff plans that the Trump Administration revealed on 2 April.
At the time, there were widespread fears that these harsh tariffs would spark a global recession and a collapse in confidence in the world's largest economy.
However, when the Liberation Day tariffs were subsequently delayed for 90 days, confidence quickly rebounded. Since 9 April, the ASX 200 has rallied by an astonishing 16.85% on today's numbers. This mirrors an even more dramatic 21% rally for America's S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) over the same period.
ASX 200 hits new record high! Which ASX shares can we thank?
When it comes to the ASX 200's latest high, most of the index's major constituents have all pulled their own weight.
As it stands today, the largest seven ASX 200 shares make up almost 40% of the index's weighting. Those are, in order, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), and ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
Since 9 April, BHP shares have rallied by 14.6%. CSL has added 4.4%, while Wesfarers has put on 21.6%.
The big dog of the ASX, CBA, has added 22.6% since 9 April, hitting several new record highs of its own in the process (hitting $183 for the first time just this morning). CBA's recent ascendancy gives the bank an extraordinary 11.7% weighting in the entire index right now.
NAB shares have risen by 21.5%, while Westpac and ANZ have surged by 15% and 12.3% respectively.
As such, it's been a joint effort from the ASX's heaviest hitters. But investors really have BHP, Wesfarmers, CBA, and NAB to thank for the latest ASX 200 high. Let's see how long this latest record high lasts.
