The Australian sharemarket ended little changed on Thursday as strength in Energy and Materials sectors offset broader market weakness, after a soft lead from Wall Street and reduced expectations for a local interest rate cut.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 8.50 points or 0.1% higher to 8,773.0, with seven of 11 sectors finishing in the red.
Energy stocks rose after oil prices steadied following their biggest jump since July, sparked by United States President Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric on Russia, which heightened geopolitical risk.
Woodside lifted 2.5%, Santos added 2.1%, Viva Energy gained 1.1% and Beach Energy advanced 3.5%.
Mining shares also provided support, as copper surged to a one-year high in London after Freeport-McMoRan declared force majeure at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the world’s second-largest copper source.
BHP and Rio Tinto rallied 3.6% apiece, and Fortescue Metals added 0.1%. Copper miners Sandfire Resources rallied 7.6%, while Capstone Copper jumped 10.8%.
By contrast, gold miners slipped as bullion prices retreated on a stronger U.S. dollar, which hit its highest level since 11 September.
Northern Star lost 2%, Newmont fell 0.4%, and Evolution Mining declined 0.1%.
Among the banks, Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.5%, National Australia Bank and ANZ gained 0.3% apiece, while Westpac added 0.9%.
Rate-sensitive sectors were broadly weaker after Wednesday’s hotter-than-expected inflation report lowered the likelihood of a November rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
In corporate news, Premier Investments closed 0.2% lower after reporting a 22.5% fall in profit from continuing operations.
Macquarie Group slipped 1.2% after agreeing to repay $321 million to investors in its failed Shield Master Trust superannuation product, in a settlement with the corporate regulator.
On the bond markets, yields on 10-year and 2-year government bonds were 0.5% and 0.7% higher at 4.351% and 3.505%, respectively.
