yep, it does a 'A' in normal mode, after leaving the insert mode (thanks to alt). The different thing is that you do it (alt+shift+a) in insert mode. So the equivalent would be `ESC, A`.
Then I guess that the Alt key generates an ESC char (ASCII code 27 [1]). Seems to tie in with the fact that Emacs docs say that you can use either Alt or ESC for the Meta key -
which is used a lot in Emacs commands (IIRC - I am not an Emacs user, just had tried it out earlier and think I remember reading read that).