Australia shares retreat from record high as miners push back; growth data on tap

Lake Resources NL

04/03/2024 01:14

March 4 (Reuters) - Australian shares were trading flat
on Monday after notching a record high earlier, as the miners
erased early gains to weigh on the advances in heavyweight
financials, while investors were cautious ahead of a key growth
data later in the week.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  was largely unchanged at
7,748.2 by 2333 GMT, after hitting a record high of 7,769.1
earlier. The benchmark ended 0.6% higher on Friday.
    Australia's gross domestic product growth data is set to be
announced on Wednesday, offering further clues to the Reserve
bank of Australia's policy rate decisions after the country's
inflation came in soft last week.
    Miners  .AXMM  edged up 0.2% before trading flat, with
behemoth BHP Group  BHP.AX  declining 0.5%, while Rio Tinto
 RIO.AX  and Fortescue  FMG.AX  rose 0.2% and 0.3%,
respectively.
    Heavyweight financials  .AXFJ  rose 0.1% with the country's
top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia  CBA.AX  climbing
0.3%. 
    Energy stocks  .AXEJ  gained 0.2% on oil prices hike, with
sector major Woodside  WDS.AX  adding 0.3%.
    Gold stocks  .AXGD  jumped 4.8% to a one-month high, as gold
prices touched a two-month peak.  GOL/ 
    Gold miners Northern Star Resources  NST.AX  and Evolution
Mining  EVN.AX  gained 6.2% and 5.7% respectively. 
    Genex Power  GNX.AX  surged as much as 37.8% after Japan's
Electric Power Development  9513.T  lodged a $249 million
takeover bid for the renewable energy firm. 
    Lake Resources  LKE.AX  lost as much as 7.4% during early
trade despite the lithium developer announcing job cuts of
nearly 50% workforce.
    Downer EDI  DOW.AX , on the other hand, lost as much as 3.6%
after the contracting firm said it had filed counter claims on a
misrepresentations lawsuit. 
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  fell 0.1%
or 16.13 points to 11,728.26.
    The country's central bank announced that banks must report
major cyber incidents within 72 hours. 
             

 (Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((Sneha.kumar@thomsonreuters.com))
 
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