A rally in consumer staples and real estate stocks pushed the Australian sharemarket slightly higher on Tuesday.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.1 per cent, or 7.8 points, to 6780.7 at the closing bell, buoyed by eight out of the 11 sectors. The All Ordinaries added 0.1 per cent to 6967.5 points.

Consumer staples stocks were among the best performing, led by supermarket giant Woolworths. It was up 0.9 per cent to $35.22 and Coles rose 0.9 per cent to $15.27.

Meanwhile, sharp losses in mining stocks offset the sharemarket’s earlier gains. The materials sector was the worst performer, tumbling 1.1 per cent. ASX heavyweight BHP Group shed 1.4 per cent to $44.50, Rio Tinto fell 0.6 per cent to $117.58 and Minerals Resources declined 4.1 per cent to $57.76.

The decline tracked the weaker iron ore price. Singapore iron ore futures traded lower in late-afternoon trading, down 0.3 per cent to $US118.80 a tonne on the December contract.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones surged 1.6 per cent, or 511 points, to 32,928.96. The S&P 500 rose 49.5 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 4166.82. The Nasdaq composite rose 146.67 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 12,789.48.

In company news, poultry supplier Inghams jumped 7.9 per cent to $3.68 and was the best-performing stock on the ASX 200. It expects $247 million in statutory earnings before interest, tax and amortisation in the first half of 2024.

Treasury Wine Estates is in a trading halt. The Penfolds owner is buying high-end Californian wine group Daou Vineyards in a deal worth up to $US1 billion ($1.6 billion) as it steps up expansion in the United States luxury wine market.

Origin Energy slid 0.4 per cent to $9.13 after AustralianSuper rejected Brookfield and EIG’s $18.7 billion bid for the company.

Liontown Resources dropped 1.8 per cent to $1.61 following a trading update that said its Kathleen Valley project was more than 50 per cent complete.

Gold miner St Barbara plunged 10.3 per cent to 17.5¢ after it posted higher all in sustaining costs at its mines in Papua New Guinea and Canada.

Endeavour Group rallied 0.6 per cent to $4.94. Its chairman, Peter Hearl, told shareholders at the hotel and liquor retailer’s annual meeting in Sydney that “there is much more to do” to lift the company’s sagging share price.

The Bank of Japan further loosened its grip on long-term interest rates by tweaking its bond yield control policy. The bank said it was making its yield curve control (YCC) policy more flexible by setting 1 per cent as the reference rate for 10-year JGBs, rather than a rigid cap.

Earlier in the day, Australian 10-year bond futures traded at $95, implying a yield of 5 per cent, the highest level since 2011.

West Texas Intermediate rose towards $US83, after retreating by almost 4 per cent on Monday, to erase all the gains that followed the October 7 attack on Israel. Brent crude was trading about $87.81 a barrel.

UBS expects the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep interest rates “higher for longer” and has delayed its forecast of the first rate cut to November next year.

Governor Michele Bullock said last Tuesday that the RBA “will not hesitate to raise the cash rate further if there is a material upward revision to the outlook for inflation”.

“UBS judge this condition has been met,” the broker said in a note to clients.