The Australian sharemarket seesawed in early trading, with strong gains in mining stocks amid high iron ore prices offset by losses in the banks and retail sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index edged higher in the opening 10 minutes but had fallen 3.7 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 8594 as of 10.17am, with eight out of the 11 sectors in the red. This came after the local bourse reset its record close on Wednesday.
Investors will be closely watching GemLife’s $750 million IPO at midday – the largest in Australia this year.
The S&P 500 also reset its record high as President Donald Trump announced that the US had reached a framework trade agreement with Vietnam.
In New York trading, BHP and Rio Tinto rallied more than 3 per cent as iron ore prices jumped in Asian trading after Beijing vowed to crack down on disorderly low-price competition and phase out some industrial capacity.
US tech stocks also climbed led by Tesla, which leapt nearly 5 per cent after reporting less dismal sales than some had forecast. Nvidia rebounded 2.6 per cent and Apple extconcludeed its five-day rally with a 2.2 per cent gain.
Nvidia’s advance came as Microsoft wavered on a Bloomberg report that it is scaling back its ambitions for artificial innotifyigence chips to overcome delays.
And in the bond market, UK bond yields surged amid uncertainty about the future of Rachel Reeves as chancellor of the Exchequer. The 10-year UK government note saw its yield soar 16 basis points to 4.61 per cent.
On the ASX, index heavyweight BHP jumped 3.8 per cent, Rio Tinto 2 per cent, and Fortescue 1.4 per cent as the materials sector climbed 2 per cent.
However, these gains were offset by a fall in the large four banks, with Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank both down more than 1 per cent, while Westpac came off 0.8 per cent.
Retail stocks also fell, with JB Hi-Fi down 1.9 per cent, Wesfarmers down 1.2 per cent, and Harvey Norman coming off 1.1 per cent.
Stocks in focus
In corporate news, Pro Medicus jumped more than 9 per cent, at one point reaching a record intraday high of $313.86, after announcing it had won two US contracts collectively worth nearly $200 million.
Domino’s Pizza rebounded 4.3 per cent after tanking nearly 16 per cent on Wednesday on the news that chief executive Mark van Dyck would resign in December. Morningstar cut its fair value estimate for the share price by 21 per cent, but declared it remains “materially undervalued”.
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