The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower on Monday as selling in mining and technology stocks offset a rally among heavyweight banks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 16.3 points, or 0.18%, to 9,076.0, despite seven of the 11 sectors finishing higher.
The market followed a hawkish speech from United States Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh at the Jackson Hole symposium over the weekend.
Warsh reaffirmed the central bank's commitment to returning inflation to its 2% target and said that, if inflation does not move towards the goal, policymakers “have work to do”.
The Materials sector led declines, with BHP falling 1.6%, Rio Tinto down 1.8% and Fortescue finishing 2.1% lower.
Gold miners also came under pressure as spot gold prices extended their decline. Evolution Mining fell 5%, Newmont declined 3.1%, and Northern Star Resources shed 5.4% after announcing that chief financial officer Ryan Gurner will leave the company on 30 November 2026.
The Information Technology sector also retreated, with WiseTech Global down 0.6%, TechnologyOne falling 0.5%, Xero declining 3.2% and NEXTDC losing 0.4%.
Financial stocks bucked the broader trend. Commonwealth Bank added 1.7%, National Australia Bank gained 0.9%, ANZ Group rose 1.3% and Westpac advanced 1.9%.
Among individual companies, shipbuilder Austal closed 1% higher despite reporting a full-year net loss of A$53.6 million for the 12 months ended 30 June 2026, compared with a profit of $89.7 million in the previous year.
On the bond markets, 10-year and two-year yields fell 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively, to 5.07% and 4.691%.
