Australian stocks inched higher on Tuesday, lifted by mining and energy companies, although a slide shares of Brambles Ltd and worries of a recession kept sentiment in check.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.3% to 7,113.0 by 0010 GMT, extending gains for a third straight session.

Brambles fell 6.8% to be the top loser on the benchmark after European private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners ended preliminary talks with the company over a potential A$20 billion ($14 billion) takeover offer.

Meanwhile, data showing a sharp fall in Chinese retail and factory activity in April, due to severely disrupted supply chains due to COVID-19 lockdowns, raised concerns of economic health globally. Among other individual stocks and sectors, higher iron ore prices pushed miners to climb 1.2%.

BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals gained between 0.9% and 2.2%.

Energy stocks added 1.6% to lead gains on the benchmark as they tracked strong oil prices.

Tech boost lifts Australian shares; Brambles soars on CVC buyout talks

Heavyweights Woodside Petroleum and Santos were up nearly 2% and 2.2%, respectively.

Technology stocks slipped up to 1.3%, tracking losses in its Wall Street peers. ASX-listed shares of Block Inc fell 3.8%.

Financials advanced 0.5% with the “Big Four” banks rising 0.1%-0.87%.

Strong bullion prices led gold stocks to rise 1.1%, with the country’s largest gold miner Newcrest Mining up nearly 1%. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.26% to 11,128.9 points.