The Australian sharemarket closed lower on Tuesday amid losses in technology and mining shares, with investors continuing to assess the implications of weaker global technology sentiment and the outlook for interest rates locally and in the United States.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 29.1 points or 0.3% lower at 8,787.0, with seven of the benchmark's 11 sectors closing in the red.
The Information Technology sector led declines, tracking tech weakness on Wall Street overnight after artificial intelligence and software stocks pared recent gains.
Risk sentiment was also dented by a 16.4% decline in SpaceX shares.
Among local technology names, TechnologyOne fell 7.1%, Xero dipped 5.3%, and Life360 finished 3.7% lower.
WiseTech Global closed down 4.4%, falling to its lowest level since 2021 amid reports of an Australian Federal Police investigation into allegations that executive chairman Richard White exploited a woman's immigration status.
The company said White was not aware of any investigation.
The Materials sector also weighed on the benchmark, with major miners mostly lower.
Shares in BHP fell 0.7%, Rio Tinto closed flat, and Fortescue declined 1.7%.
Gold producers came under pressure as bullion prices fell amid growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates again later this year.
Northern Star Resources dipped 2.7%, Newmont lost 2.1%, and Evolution Mining retreated 2.5%.
The Energy sector weakened as lower oil prices weighed on sentiment. Beach Energy and Ampol all finished 1.1% and 1% lower, respectively, while Santos ticked up 0.1%.
Viva Energy declined 2.4% despite reporting that works to restart the Residue Catalytic Cracking Unit (RCCU) at the Geelong Refinery have been completed, with production expected to return to more than 90% of normal capacity this week as the unit and associated facilities resume operations.
The company also said its Alkylation unit would remain out of service until 2027.
Meanwhile, Woodside Energy finished down 0.4% after the company announced a gas sale and purchase agreement with Alcoa of Australia for the supply of 31.1 petajoules of domestic gas from its Western Australian portfolio between 2027 and 2030.
Financial stocks provided the strongest support to the market. Commonwealth Bank added 0.5%, Westpac gained 1%, ANZ added 1.4%, while National Australia Bank rose 1.2%.
Among individual stocks, Iluka Resources shed 10.8% despite the rare earths producer securing a multi-year agreement for the supply of magnet rare earth oxides with an unnamed international automotive customer and accessing its $1.65 billion government-backed non-recourse loan facility to support construction of the Eneabba refinery.
Stockland lost 0.5% after reaffirming its full-year distribution guidance and announcing an estimated second-half distribution of 16.2 cents per share.
Investors are now turning their attention to Australia's monthly consumer price index (CPI) report, slated for release on Wednesday.
Markets expect headline inflation to rise to 4.4% in May, while the trimmed mean measure is forecast to edge higher to 3.5%, potentially keeping the prospect of further interest rate increases by the Reserve Bank of Australia on the table.
On the bond markets, yields moved lower. The 10-year government bond yield fell 1.0% to 4.784%, while the two-year yield eased 0.3% to 4.473%.
