Australian shares trade flat as healthcare and lithium stocks lift
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More news: Australian shares recovered early losses to trade flat at 2:10pm AEST.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was flat at 8,559.2 by 10:30am AEST. Six of the 11 sectoral indices were in the red.
Xero remained the worst performing ASX 200 company — but cut losses from nearly 8% to 4.8% — after investors reacted negatively to its $3.9 billion acquisition for US payment platform Melio.
Fellow tech stocks Life360 (-2.4%) and Technology One (-1.6%) also stayed down as the sector traded 1.7% lower.
Biotech pair Clarity Pharmaceuticals (11%) and Neuren Pharmaceuticals (10.7%) led gains, with healthcare (0.4%) emerging as the best performing sector.
Lithium miners Pilbara Minerals (9%), Mineral Resources (5.4%), Liontown Resources (5.1%) and IGO (3.8%) also climbed. The rally came after the world's second-largest lithium miner SQM announced cuts to 5% of its Chilean workforce amid an extended slump in global prices for the battery metal.
Australian shares open lower as Xero plunges on Melio takeover
More news: Australian shares lowered at the open as Xero dived nearly 8% after announcing its $3.9 billion acquisition of US payments platform Melio on Wednesday.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 11.6 points, or 0.14%, to 8,547.6 by 10:30am AEST. Seven of the 11 sectoral indices were in the red.
Xero, down 7.9%, was the worst performing ASX 200 company as its shares emerged from a trading halt. The accounting software group confirmed this morning that it had completed a $1.85 billion institutional placement to help fund its blockbuster Melio deal.
Life360 (-2.6%) and Megaport (-1%) also fell as the tech sector shed 2.7%.
Neuren Pharmaceuticals, up 6.2%, was the best performer after the biotech business announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has allowed its patent application for the use of its trial-phase treatment for patients with Pitt Hopkins syndrome.
Fellow healthcare companies Clarity Pharmaceuticals (3.6%) and Pro Medicus (1.9%) also climbed, as did lithium miners Pilbara Minerals (3.2%), Liontown Resources (2.2%) and Mineral Resources (1.7%).
Australian shares to drop after mixed Wall Street session
The news: Australian shares are set to lower at the open after a mixed session on Wall Street overnight, as the ceasefire between Israel and Iran held and US President Donald Trump signalled plans for upcoming talks.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 37 points, or 0.4%, to 8,500
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.25%, S&P 500 flat, and Nasdaq up 0.31%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.76%, DAX down 0.61%, and FTSE 100 down 0.46%
- Spot gold: flat at USD3,333 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.06% to USD66.47/bbl, and US WTI up 0.87% to USD64.93/bbl
- AUD: up 0.29% to 65.11 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.18% to USD107653.
The context: US stocks wavered after a two-day rally as the Israel-Iran truce held and Trump confirmed that the US and Iran would hold talks "next week".
Tech giant Nvidia surged 4.3% to reset its record high, helping the Nasdaq 100 also climb to a fresh all-time closing high.
Elsewhere, the Dow Jones lowered and the S&P 500 ended flat. Oil rebounded from its biggest two-day plunge since 2022, while the US dollar fell to a three-year low.
Traders also monitored the second day of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's testimony on Capitol Hill, where he reiterated that the central bank is still determining the impact of tariffs on consumer prices.
