The Australian sharemarket was cautiously up Tuesday lunchtime after a lacklustre morning, following US market futures higher after President Donald Trump extended a deadline on his euro area tariffs, leaving investors guessing yet again by making trade threats before backtracking.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 15.80 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 8376.80 as of 12.51pm AEST, having swung between narrow gains and losses all morning as advances by energy and tech stocks were offset by declines in utilities and materials. The local market edged up by 0.1 per cent on Monday.
The Australian dollar dipped overnight after hitting six-month highs on Monday, and was down 0.1 per cent at 64.78 US cents at lunchtime.
European markets took centre stage with Wall Street closed.Credit: Getty Images
IT shares were the day’s best performers so far, led by a 2.3 per cent rise for the biggest tech stock on the ASX, WiseTech Global. The company was up for a second day after it announced its acquisition of US-based supply chain software company e2open, a deal it hopes will turn it into a global powerhouse.
Energy stocks also gained, with oil and gas giants Woodside and Santos up 0.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively, as oil prices steadied, with the market weighing the prospect for easing trade tensions between the European Union and the US ahead of an OPEC+ meeting that will decide on supply policy. Oil has trended lower since mid-January on concerns around the fallout from Trump’s trade war, with a push by the oil cartel to restore idled supply adding to the headwinds.
Other fossil fuel players advanced as well, with refiner Ampol up 1.3 per cent and coal miners Yancoal up 1.7 per cent and Whitehaven up 1.2 per cent.
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In contrast, the materials sector declined, weighed down by the iron ore giants after the price for the steel-making metal softened overnight. BHP, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto were down 0.8 per cent, 0.9 per cent, and 0.7 per cent, respectively. Gold miners were also lower amid a weaker gold price, with Northern Star Resources down 1.8 per cent, Evolution Mining down 1 per cent, and Newmont – which was trading ex-dividend – losing 1.2 per cent.
Telstra shares reversed early losses and edged up 0.1 per cent after reaffirming its earnings forecast of $8.5 billion to $8.7 billion this year. While the telco unveiled a plan to boost its return on capital and reach mid-single digit compound annual growth in cash earnings over the next five years, it warned that it may have to consider partially franked dividends in the future as its “franking balance is tight”.