Australian shares eked out modest gains on Monday, as strength in technology, gold andhealthcare stockscountered weakness in miners and financials, with thehalf-year earnings seasonswinging into full gear.
The S&P/ASX 200 ended 19.5 points higher at 8,937.10, after last week’s 2.4% rally that marked its strongest weekly performance in ten months.
Technology stocksrose 5.7% to post their strongest session in over 10 months.
Craig Sidney, a senior investment adviser at Shaw and Partners, said the gains were driven largely by short covering and bargain hunting after recent weakness.
Sydney’s tech stocks, which tend to track their U.S. peers, had recently come under pressure as Wall Street technology stocks slid on concerns over AI-driven earnings disruption and heavy capital investment requirements.
Based on recent global trading, the weakness could be read as a structural shift, but that remains to be seen, Shaw and Partners’ Sidney added.
Tech majors Wisetech, Xero and TechnologyOne led the gains on the subindex, rising between 5.6% and 12.9%.
Healthcare stocks rebounded 1.1% for their strongest session in nearly three weeks, as heavyweights CSL and Cochlear rose 1.4% and 0.6%, respectively, recovering from last week’s earnings-driven sell-off.
Gold stocks added 1%. Consumer stocks rose 1.6%, helped by a 7.5% jump in JB Hi-Fi following upbeat half-year results.
Treasury Wine Estates slipped 5.2% after cutting its interim dividend on continued demand weakness.
Limiting gains on the benchmark, miners fell 1%, with BHP and Rio Tinto down 1.5% and 4.1%, respectively.
The mining giants will report their half-year results on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
Banks lost 0.1%. Top lender CBA rose 1.2%, while National Australia Bank, due to report quarterly results on Wednesday, slipped 1%.
In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 slid 0.6% to 13,117.91. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will meet on Wednesday and is expected to leave the cash rate steady at 2.25%.
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