Australian shares trade flat, shrugging off US records

• Australian shares have wobbled in early trade before flattening out after Wall Street saw strong gains overnight.
• Wall Street’s gains were driven primarily by mega tech stocks not held on the ASX200.
• Oil prices are still weighing on shares as the ongoing conflict in Iran erodes confidence of a re-supply.

Australia’s share market is trading flat, after a tech-led rally on Wall Street failed to translate for local stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 0.1 point by midday on Wednesday, and was broadly flat at 8735.8, with the broader All Ordinaries also effectively unchanged at 8903.9.

Local shares shrugged off fresh records for the US market’s S&P500 and Nasdaq indices overnight, given the domestic bourse is missing the secret ingredient to the latter’s success.

“The absence of mega-cap technology stocks on the ASX is keeping a lid on the index, while yesterday’s 4.7 per cent plunge in consumer confidence gives some pause for thought,” Moomoo chief market strategist Tapas Strickland said.

Oil prices inched higher as the US Energy Information Administration hiked its crude price forecast as the US-Israel war on Iran continued to drain global stockpiles.

However, the local energy sector fell 0.2 per cent, tracking weakness in Woodside, Santos, refinery operators and coal producers.

Uranium stocks minimised the sectoral damage, however, with Silex, Paladin and Boss Energy rallying after the overnight tech rally defibrillated the AI hype cycle.

Sluggish banks and miners also weighed on the local market, with both sectors tracking to a weaker session.

BHP fell 1.5 per cent to $61.95, wiping roughly $4.6 billion from its massive $320 billion market capitalisation.

Local gold producers were an exception, with the sub-index up 1.8 per cent as the precious metal firmed against a softer greenback to $US4158 ($A5,958) an ounce.

Battery minerals miners and rare earths plays also advanced, but lost some momentum after surging on Tuesday.

Consumer discretionary stocks outperformed the other sectors, adding another 0.6 per cent, with strong showings from Super Retail, Lovisa and Wesfarmers.

Health care also performed well, up 0.5 per cent as Telix Pharmaceuticals, Pro Medicus and Mesoblast rallied.

Telix’s more than five per cent push came as its first US patients were dosed with its Pixclara brain cancer imaging drug.

In company news, The Lottery Corp’s chief financial officer Adam Newman is stepping down after four years in the role, with the board kicking off a search for his successor.

BHP has sold its mothballed Kambalda nickel concentrator and exploration tenements to South Africa’s Gold Fields.

Speculation continues that Gold Fields might lob a sweetened takeover bid for Northern Star, Australia’s biggest gold miner, after its recent $38.7 billion offer was rejected.

The Australian dollar was buying 69.79 US cents, up from 69.69 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm.

-AAP