Australian shares are retreating from a recent upswing as sluggish miners and consumer discretionary stocks weigh on the major indices.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 48.8 points by midday on Thursday, down 0.53 per cent, to 9104.4, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 52.7 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 9238.6.
The local market shrugged off a tech-led lead from Wall Street overnight after oil prices jumped on reports that Iran would keep all of its enriched nuclear material, taking a key US deal demand off the table.
Energy supply disruptions due to the war, interest rates, AI earnings and US midterm elections had been the main drivers of market volatility in recent weeks, Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.
“Barring a big, new surprise, this combination of factors will likely remain the main driver of global markets to end 2026,” he said.
“With market participants searching for earnings resilience, visibility about the peak in global rates and an improvement in the US domestic and foreign political situation.”
Local energy stocks were mixed, the sector down 0.2 per cent with varying performances across fossil fuel producers, refinery operators and uranium stocks.
The heavyweight raw materials sector fell 1.6 per cent as precious metals miners tumbled, tracking a drop in spot prices as bets narrowed on imminent US interest rate hikes.
Gold tumbled to $3994 an ounce, dragging the local sub-index 2.7 per cent into the red.
Shares in mega miners BHP and Rio Tinto each lost more than one per cent as copper prices ticked lower, despite easing fears about the likely impact of a Democrat-controlled US Congress on artificial intelligence regulation.
Orica shares jumped almost one per cent after the mining and infrastructure play posted a $264.2 million full-year statutory net profit, up 63 per cent from the year before.
Financials crept 0.2 per cent higher as rebounds in CommBank and Westpac shares helped counterbalance a continued sell-off in NAB shares, which have tumbled more than six per cent to $32.95 since the bank reported a shrinking full-year profit last week.
Consumer discretionaries and utilities stocks were under selling pressure, while the IT sector continued its rebound after a strong lead from US tech stocks.
At a company level, Xero shares rocketed more than eight per cent as the accounting software provider upgraded its guidance, flagged a $1 billion share buyback and announced chief financial officer Claire Bramley was heading to another global organisation.
Chicken supplier Inghams reached a new long-term supply deal with Woolworths, but higher input and freight costs continued to weigh on the company’s bottom line, its leaders told shareholders at the group’s annual meeting.
The Australian dollar is buying 68.40 US cents, down from 68.75 US cents on Wednesday.
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