Australian shares were trading flat on Monday after notching a record high earlier, as the miners erased early gains to weigh on the advances in heavyweight financials, while investors were cautious ahead of a key growth data later in the week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was largely unchanged at 7,748.2 by 2333 GMT, after hitting a record high of 7,769.1 earlier. The benchmark ended 0.6% higher on Friday.
Australia’s gross domestic product growth data is set to be announced on Wednesday, offering further clues to the Reserve bank of Australia’s policy rate decisions after the country’s inflation came in soft last week.
Miners edged up 0.2% before trading flat, with behemoth BHP Group declining 0.5%, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue rose 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
Heavyweight financials rose 0.1% with the country’s top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia climbing 0.3%. Energy stocks gained 0.2% on oil prices hike, with sector major Woodside adding 0.3%.
Gold stocks jumped 4.8% to a one-month high, as gold prices touched a two-month peak. Gold miners Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining gained 6.2% and 5.7% respectively.
Australian shares hit record high as traders assess US inflation data
Genex Power surged as much as 37.8% after Japan’s Electric Power Development lodged a $249 million takeover bid for the renewable energy firm.
Lake Resources lost as much as 7.4% during early trade despite the lithium developer announcing job cuts of nearly 50% workforce.
Downer EDI, on the other hand, lost as much as 3.6% after the contracting firm said it had filed counter claims on a misrepresentations lawsuit.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.1% or 16.13 points to 11,728.26.
The country’s central bank announced that banks must report major cyber incidents within 72 hours.
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