The Australian sharemarket snapped a five-day rally on Thursday, closing lower amid widespread profit-taking and cautious sentiment following mixed economic data.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 19.9 points or 0.2% to 8,329.2.
Eight of the 11 sectors on the ASX 200 finished in negative territory, with industrial stocks leading the declines. Profit-taking set the tone early in the session after Wednesday’s gains were driven by optimism over cooling core inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Among the major banks, Westpac and ANZ each slipped 0.5%, while Commonwealth Bank fell 0.6%.
Mining stocks were mixed: BHP eased 0.3%, while Fortescue Metals rose 1.9%.
Rio Tinto advanced 0.5% following U.S. regulatory approval of its proposed acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, which emerged as the session’s standout performer, surging 7.9%.
Utilities, however, performed well, with cooling inflation boosting hopes of an interest rate cut in February.
Origin Energy climbed 1.2%, while Mercury NZ gained 1.3%.
Among individual companies, Star Entertainment plummeted 33.3% after the company disclosed it had only $79 million in remaining cash and faced challenges meeting the conditions of a $100 million loan facility.
On the bond markets, yields on Australian government bonds fell amid expectations of easing monetary policy. The 10-year yield dropped 0.8% to 4.491%, while the 2-year yield declined 1% to 3.883%.