On Wednesday, the Australian sharemarket saw a modest increase driven by gains in the financials and real estate sectors, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index rising by 0.1% to 7733.5 while the Australian dollar remained steady just below US65c.
However, the All Ordinaries index remained flat despite the positive performance in the aforementioned sectors. The financials sector notably excelled with major banks such as Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ, and Westpac recording gains, while the tech sector experienced a decline following a drop in the Nasdaq Composite index, and in commodities, gold prices rose, influencing gains in gold producers but ASX heavyweight BHP Group saw a slight decline amidst higher Singapore iron ore futures.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 1 point.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 5.25 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 55.25 points.
The SPI futures are up 14 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Financials, up 0.8 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Information Technology, down 1.44 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY), closing 6.98 per cent higher at $6.74. It was followed by shares in Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) and ALS (ASX:ALQ).
The worst-performing large cap was WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC), closing 2.58 per cent lower at $93.16. It was followed by shares in Technology One (ASX:TNE) and Seven Group Holdings (ASX:SVW).
Asian markets
Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.02 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 315.07 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.22 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,134.90 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.4 per cent lower at US$117.25 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.7 per cent fall.
Light crude is trading $0.23 higher at US$78.38 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 65.17 US cents.