The ASX 200 seesawed in afternoon trade but mostly traded sideways as it closed the day slightly up by 0.26%, maintaining its level above 7,000 at 7,096.

The Tech sector also managed to stand its ground, up 0.6%, despite the biggest one day stock plunge in US stock market history as Meta (Facebook) plummeted 26% and wiped out US$230bn of market cap.

Other ASX sectors to rise today include Energy and Industrials, while most other sectors found themselves in the red by less than 0.5%.

The Materials sector meanwhile lost ground 0.25% as heavyweight Boral (ASX:BLD) adjusted down its valuation by 40% after trading ex-dividend, along with a massive cash distribution to shareholders.

On the economics front, a quarterly note released by the RBA today predicted that unemployment rate could fall to 3% if Australia could move on quickly from the Omicron outbreak.

The note also revealed that the central bank expects CPI to peak to 3.75% in June, which is much higher than its previous forecast of 2.75%.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Market darling Brainchip (ASX:BRN) was again leading the pack after rising by almost 7% on no news. On Tuesday, the US-based company announced it’s received an additional patent from the US patent office, bringing BRN’s total US patent suite to eight, along with one in China.

News Corporation (ASX:NWS)’s rose 5% as Q2 revenues increased by 13% to $2.72 billion, compared to $2.41 billion in the prior year. Revenues in the first half rose 15% year- over-year.

Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) jumped after it reported after hours yesterday on the successful completion of its $12.9m share purchase plan (SPP).

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Boral Ltd fell 40% after announcing trading ex-dividend and capital return.

Boral’s shareholders will receive a total cash distribution of $2.72 per share which totals $2.93bn, as well as unfranked dividends of 7c a share which totals $77m.