ASX finishes lower despite lithium shares huge | Australian Markets

Australia’s sharemarket sea-sawed all through Thursday’s trading because the Commonwealth Bank continued its file march greater.

The benchmark ASX 200 index mainly traded flat, dropping simply 2.90 factors or 0.03 per cent to eight,538.90.

The broader All Ordinaries additionally completed marginally within the pink down 1.60 factors or 0.02 per cent to eight,768.90.

The Aussie greenback quickly jumped above 65 US cents, however slid all through the day’s trading and is now shopping for 64.99 US cents.

Even with the minor falls, the market stays within 20 factors of an all-time file close.

On a comparatively quiet day of trading seven of the 11 sectors had been lower, with data technology, A-REITs, Materials and Telecommunications lifting the ASX.

CBA continued its file run after a late surge noticed Australia’s largest bank add 0.13 per cent to $181.34.

Westpac additionally gained 0.48 per cent to $33.26, whereas NAB shares slid 0.23 per cent to $38.51 and ANZ was mainly flat dropping 0.034 per cent to $29.63.

Meanwhile healthcare heavyweight CSL fell 1.32 per cent to $242.96, whereas Prop Medicus fell 0.89 per cent to $280.82 and Telix Pharmaceuticals dropped 2.83 per cent to $26.43.

Utilities shares additionally slumped. Origin Energy fell 1.31 per cent to $10.58, whereas AGL slipped 0.57 per cent to $10.39 and Meridian Energy dropped 2.09 per cent to $5.16.

Thursday’s trading got here forward of a quantity of key worldwide occasions led by US President Donald Trump’s a lot hyped call with China’s chief Xi Jinping, a European Central Bank assembly and American non-farm payroll information.

Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda stated the markets could hit a lull heading into the non-farm payrolls release, with the upcoming ECB choice additionally a doubtlessly market shifting occasion.

“The ECB is all but certain to cut rates. However, there’s uncertainty about the guidance the central bank will deliver given the murky outlook for US trade policy and global growth,” he stated.

One of the intense spots was lithium stocks led by the assets sector on the back of the White House introduced they’re creating new grants to help Albemarle fund a new lithium processing facility.

Mineral Resources surged 15.14 per cent to $23.26, Pilbara Minerals additionally soared 12.08 per cent to $1.34 and Liontown Resources jumped 5.25 per cent to $0.64.

In company news, Toys R Us has introduced it was going into voluntary administration.

Toys R Us shares have instantly suspended from trading on the ASX pending additional bulletins.

Shares in Tyro slumped 10.38 per cent to $0.82 with buyers promoting down the funds business on the back of chief government and managing director Jon Davey asserting he was shifting to a new function with a personal equity business.

Resimac shares additionally fell sharply on Thursday, though buyers received’t thoughts because the company goes to pay a absolutely franked particular dividend of 12 cents per share.

Catapult slipped 0.97 per cent to $6.16 after telling the market the company is buying US sports activities technology company Perch for $US18m ($AU27.70m).