ASX finishes flat on Monday despite BHP, CBA drag

Australia’s sharemarket snapped a four day losing streak on Monday, despite earlier fears over BHP’s legal setback and renewed concerns about interest rates.

The benchmark ASX 200 eked out a tiny 1.9 point gain or 0.02 per cent to 8,636.40 while the broader All Ordinaries added 8.70 points or 0.10 per cent to 8,915.70.

Australia’s dollar slipped 0.2 per cent and is now buying 65.22 US cents.

The local bourse briefly traded at a four-month low before recovering during the afternoon’s trading.

On an overall positive day of trading, seven of the 11 sectors finished higher, led by information technology and energy stocks.

WiseTech Global gained 1.16 per cent to $65.66, Technology One jumped 2.91 per cent to $35.34 and Megaport leapt 3.21 per cent to $14.16.

Energy stocks also gained after Ukraine drones hit the Ryazan oil refinery on Sunday, although the jump in oil prices was short lived.

Still, Woodside Energy gained 0.88 per cent to $26.47, Santos added 0.76 per cent to $6.67 and Ampol outperformed and jumped 3.82 per cent to $32.05.

Offsetting the gains out of the energy sector was falls in Australia’s biggest stocks.

Shares in CBA continued their decline down a further 0.96 per cent to $155.79. They are now down 10.80 per cent over the last five trading days.

BHP dropped 0.6 per cent to $42.48 after news emerged over the weekend a UK High Court found BHP liable for the 2015 Samarco Fundao dam collapse. BHP argued it has already paid fines through the Brazilian courts.

On the opening bell BHP slumped 1.6 per cent before recovering throughout the day’s trading.

IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said Australia’s sharemarket managed to avoid most of the fears during the morning’s trading.

“It was certainly looking a little shaky this morning after that UK high court decision with BHP and the Brazilian dam,” Mr Sycamore said.

“We were getting a little nervous after CBA’s belting last week, with the next biggest stock on the ASX 200 taking a similar dive … but there wasn’t that follow through selling and the ASX managed to close flat.”

Despite BHP’s wobbles, the iron ore miners had a strong day due to the price of the commodity rising by a little more than 1 per cent to $103.70.

Fortescue Metals added 1.1 per cent to $20.46, Rio Tinto traded 0.6 per cent higher to $132.59 and Champion Iron jumped 1.3 per cent to $5.33.

Also weighing on the market was calls for the RBA could have lowered interest rates by too much, with the next move up instead of down.

“Our central view is that further rate cuts are unlikely, and that the next move is more likely to be up than down, albeit not until 2027, HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said.

“As we see it, the economy is already operating at, or a bit beyond, its capacity. That is, demand is already growing faster than the supply-side (or potential growth rate) of the economy.”

Agriculture business Elders soared 6.38 per cent to $7.42 to be one of the strongest performers on Monday after it reported a 12 per cent increase in underlying earnings before interest and tax to $143.5m, while underlying net profits after tax came in at $86.5m.

Pro Medicus shares rose 4.23 per cent to $259.36 after announcing a five-year $44m contract with Advanced Radiology Management.

Gaming and liquor giant Endeavour Group shares had a marginal 0.27 per cent gain to $3.68 following its annual general meeting where the company announced softening sales in the bottle shop division, while the hospitality part of the business is seeing an improving outlook.

Aristocrat shares slipped 0.37 per cent to $57.19 after announcing a dividend bump for shareholders after announcing a 12 per cent growth in net profit after tax adjusted to exclude the amortisation of intangible assets to $1.6bn.