The Australian sharemarket gave back early gains to close marginally higher on Tuesday, with gains in gold miners and technology stocks offset by a sell-off in the major banks ahead of tomorrow’s closely watched monthly inflation report.
The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 11.9 points, or 0.1%, to 8,537.0, with only five of 11 sectors finishing higher.
The modest decline followed a 1.3% rally on Monday driven by renewed expectations of a U.S. rate cut in December.
The Materials sector outperformed, supported by a stronger gold price as conviction grew that the U.S. Federal Reserve will ease policy next month.
Bullion climbed 1.7% to near US$4,130 an ounce overnight, lifting Northern Star by 2%, Newmont by 4.6% and Evolution Mining by 3.5%.
Tech stocks also strengthened, mirroring the rebound in U.S. markets. Life360 added 6.6%, TechnologyOne added 1.8%, and NextDC rose 1%.
However, investors turned cautious ahead of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ first full monthly inflation release on Wednesday, marking a shift away from quarterly reporting.
Markets expect price growth to accelerate from 3.2% at the end of the September quarter to 3.6%.
The uncertainty prompted profit-taking across the financials, with Commonwealth Bank falling 1.2% and National Australia Bank down 0.1%.
Bendigo Bank slumped 7.4% after revealing “serious shortcomings” in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls following a Deloitte review.
In company news, Ramsay Health Care surged 12.7% as first-quarter revenue and earnings beat expectations, with the group also signalling stronger earnings for the year.
DroneShield jumped 14.6% after securing a $5.2 million contract with an unnamed European military.
Web Travel climbed 9.3% after reporting a 22% increase in total transaction value to $3.2 billion, while SRG Global gained 6.4% on winning $650 million in new contracts across Australia and New Zealand.
On the bond markets, 10-year and 2-year yields ticked up 0.1% apiece to 4.433% and 3.681%, respectively.
