Australia’s benchmark share index has extended its downward run to five consecutive trading sessions, defying strong gains across the healthcare sector and a bumper full-year result from global mining giant BHP that failed to reverse broader market momentum on Tuesday. The flagship S&P/ASX 200 edged down 3.20 points, a marginal 0.04% drop, to close at 9070.00, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 4.80 points, or 0.05%, to settle at 9274.20. The Australian dollar traded at roughly 70.97 U.S. cents by market close. The trading day delivered a deeply mixed session for Australia’s 11 market sectors, with five closing in positive territory and six finishing lower. Leading all gainers by a wide margin, the healthcare sector surged 7.81% overall, while the energy sector posted a more modest 0.99% rise. The materials sector also recorded mild growth, driven entirely by strong investor demand for BHP shares following the miner’s latest earnings release. BHP closed 2.65% higher at $63.85 per share, though other major local mining players failed to share in the upward momentum: Rio Tinto slipped 0.55% to $167.40, while Fortescue Metals Group fell 0.39% to $17.68. Even with BHP’s share gain, copper prices closed 0.55% lower at $6.57 per pound. Biotech and blood products giant CSL, the heaviest-weighted stock in the healthcare sector, led the sector’s explosive rally despite posting a significant annual net loss. CSL shares jumped 17.25% to close at $157.82, recovering a large portion of the losses the stock has recorded over the past 12 months. Cochlear, the leading implant manufacturer, saw its shares rally 7.58% to $141.20 after releasing an upbeat earnings update, while medical imaging tech firm Pro Medicus gained 11.88% to $196.75 following an annual report that showed a 24.1% rise in underlying profit to $144.7 million. Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments and capital markets at VanEck, noted that the sharp rally in CSL shares was surprising given the company’s weak bottom-line results in the annual report. “CSL was slightly ahead of analyst expectations, but the market really latched onto the company’s guidance for strong growth next year, and that pushed shares up by a huge amount, nearly erasing the entire drop the stock has seen over the past year,” Hannah explained. “It’s quite incredible. I think you have to question whether the size of the market movement actually reflects the underlying earnings results we’ve seen this earnings season. Right now, companies are under enormous pressure to deliver strong results; if they don’t, investors punish them quite heavily on the market.” Hannah added that the small gain in the energy sector could be traced directly to a recent rally in global crude oil prices, which hit $91 U.S. per barrel ahead of Tuesday’s market close. “That always gives a boost to energy stocks broadly,” he said, “paired with BHP’s stronger-than-expected result, that was enough to keep the sector in positive territory.” The heavyweight financial sector was one of the biggest drags on the benchmark index, with Australia’s so-called Big Four banks all closing in negative territory. Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell 1.44%, ANZ dropped 0.53%, and Westpac declined 1.17%, while National Australia Bank also posted a small single-digit loss. In other individual company news, A2 Milk Company recovered 8.58% on Tuesday after falling 3.26% in the previous session following its own earnings release. Infrastructure firm Reliance Worldwide saw its shares soar 24.65% to $4.50 per share after Canadian global investment giant Brookfield announced a $4.1 billion takeover bid for the company.
Australian sharemarket falls for fifth day despite surging healthcare stocks, record BHP profit
