Australian shares tread water as energy stocks counter gold slump
- The S&P/ASX 200 index held its ground at 9,009.60
Australian shares traded narrowly Monday, with energy stocks gaining from rising oil prices due to Middle East tensions, while gold and tech stocks declined on US economic data.
- Middle East tensions driving oil prices and energy stock gains.
- Gold and technology stock declines.
- Ingenia Communities Group's significant jump after takeover bid rejection.
Australian shares traded in a narrow range on Monday, as strength in energy companies partially offset weakness in gold stocks, while investors stayed on the sidelines as a flare-up in tensions in the Middle East helped oil prices extend gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index held its ground at 9,009.60, as of 0010 GMT.
On Friday, the benchmark lost 0.2% and logged its worst week in nearly a month.
Crude prices advanced on Monday following tit-for-tat strikes between the United States and Iran on vessels sailing in the bottleneck Strait of Hormuz alongside other areas during the weekend, intensifying worries of a prolonged supply disruption.
Oil’s surge helped energy-linked stocks in Sydney snap a two-session losing run, with sector leaders Woodside Energy and Santos gaining 0.6% and nearly 1%, respectively.
Elsewhere in the main index, real estate and consumer discretionary stocks added to broader strength, up 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively. Shares of data centre landlord Goodman Group rose 0.4% while electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi advanced as much as 1.5% to its highest point in nearly two weeks. Bucking the broader strength, gold stocks dropped 1%.
The yellow metal fell 2% on Friday after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report boosted expectations of an imminent rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
Index majors Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining declined 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.
Technology stocks slid nearly 2% as they tracked the Nasdaq Composite lower after the US index lost ground on Friday.
Enterprise software firm Xero fell 2.4% while logistics software maker WiseTech Global declined 3.4%.
Among individual stocks, Ingenia Communities Group jumped as much as 20.3% in their largest single-day advance since October 2009 after rejecting a takeover bid from private equity firm Warburg Pincus that valued the Australian property developer at a more than 30% premium. Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index marginally inched 0.1% lower.