Australian shares close at record highs on banking boost; miners slip

Argosy Property

05/08/2021 08:12

* Sydney records worst pandemic day
    * BHP, Rio fall 1.7% each; Fortescue down 3.4%
    * CBA up 1.2%; will report full-year results next week

 (Updates to close)
    By Yamini C S
    Aug 5 (Reuters) - Australian stocks closed at a record high
on Thursday, with banks leading the gains ahead of next week's
earnings from two of the "Big Four" lenders.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  ended up 0.1% to 7,511.1,
marking an all-time high finish for the third time this week.
    The "Big Four" banks climbed between 0.2% and 1.2%.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia  CBA.AX , the country's largest,
gained the most ahead of its results next week where it is
expected to announce a share buyback. 
    Miners  .AXMM  were the biggest losers, falling 1.6%, with
Rio Tinto  RIO.AX  and BHP Group  BHP.AX  shedding around 1.7%
each. Fortescue Metals Group  FMG.AX  dropped 3.4%.
    A sharp drop in iron ore prices due to soft Chinese demand
weighed on the sector.  IRONORE/ 
     "There is nervousness around some of the iron ore names,
with China flexing its muscles. But we are seeing enhanced
trends around the growth of battery metals sector and talk of
decarbonisation," said Damian Rooney, director of equity sales
at Argonaut.
    Worries about the COVID-19 situation also capped gains, with
Sydney recording its worst day of the pandemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PC01M
    Energy stocks  .AXEJ  fell 1.2% to close at its lowest since
May 31.
    Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape said on
Thursday the potential takeover of Oil Search  OSH.AX  by
Australia's top natural gas producer Santos Ltd's  STO.AX  could
produce high value for the country but should satisfy "national
interest".  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2PC0RN
    Tech stocks, meanwhile, edged higher. Analytics firm Nuix
Ltd  NXL.AX  was the top gainer on both the benchmark and
 .AXIJ , with Xero Ltd  XRO.AX  following with a 2.2% jump.
    The gold index  .AXGD  ended 0.4% lower. However, Resolute
Mining  RSG.AX  gained 4.5% after saying it would sell its Ghana
mine to Canada's Asante Gold Corp  ASE.CD  for $90 million.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2PB4WC
    New Zealand's NZX 50 index  .NZ50  slipped 0.3% to
12,753.76.
    Polymer products manufacturer Skellerup Holdings Ltd
 SKL.NZ  was the top percentage gainer, up 2.2%.

 (Reporting by Yamini C S in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((Yamini.CS@thomsonreuters.com;))
 
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