It's been another momentous day for the Australian stock market this Tuesday. Yesterday's bright start to the trading week has been followed up with another strong showing for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) this session. After closing at 8,844.8 points yesterday afternoon, the index opened higher this morning.
After about an hour of trading, the ASX 200 reached 8,867.6 points, a new all-time record for the Australian stock market.
At the time of writing, investors have cooled their jets a little, but the ASX 200 remains up by a tentative 0.04% at 8,848 points.
This new all-time high for the Australian stock market is just the latest in a year that has seen new records dropping like flies.
It was only at the start of the year that the ASX 200 was sitting at just over 8,200 points. As of today's levels, the index is now 7.9% above where it started the year at, and up more than 13% from the 7,800-point levels it was at this time last year.
As for the culprits for today's new record, as usual, we only have to look at the largest constituents in the ASX 200 Index.
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Which ASX 200 shares are driving today's record high?
Today has been an interesting day for the ASX 200 bank stocks. All four of the major banks initially spiked in value this morning. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) went as high as $180 a share, while National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) each jumped around 1%.
Saying that, these banks have since fallen back to earth, with CBA currently in the red at the time of writing.
But other ASX 200 shares have taken up the slack. BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), the second largest stock on the index behind CBA, has enjoyed a healthy 0.78% lift so far this Tuesday.
What's behind the index's new record?
It's always difficult to pinpoint why an index like the ASX 200 is making a significant move. However, as we've covered extensively here at the Fool, it's likely that the meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) today has something to do with it.
The RBA is meeting this Tuesday to decide its next move regarding interest rates. Most commentators expect a reduction in interest rates when the announcement is made at 2:30 pm. That seems to have been driving the ASX 200 higher in recent weeks. Of course, we could still get another shock, as we did last month, if the RBA leaves rates on hold. But that seems unlikely, given the low inflation and rising unemployment that we discussed yesterday.
So let's see what happens to the index when the RBA's announcement comes out. That might tell us how much rates have to do with today's fresh all-time high.
