A more than 5 per cent surge in mining giant BHP helped the Australian sharemarket to recoup much of its earlier session’s losses from a heavy sell-off in Commonwealth Bank and its lending rivals.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index finished down just 1.9 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 8595.8, just shy of its record high after earlier falling around 0.5 per cent. Eight out of the 11 sectors were trading in the red, led by banking.

“The flow of money out of the banks continues to shift into the big miners,” said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore. “The rotation was supported by a 2.5 per cent rise in the iron ore price to $95.55 a tonne, following supportive comments from Chinese authorities earlier in the week.”

The ASX 200 swung between gains and losses as its two biggest stocks – BHP and CBA – tussled with the index. BHP jumped $2.07 to $39.27, helped by the spike in the iron ore price after Beijing vowed to crack down on disorderly low-price competition for the steel industry.

Rio Tinto and Fortescue both jumped 1.8 per cent to $110.25 and $16.26, respectively. Lithium miners also went on a tear, with Mineral Resources up 7.8 per cent to $24.44, Pilbara Minerals 11.3 per cent to $1.53, and Liontown Resources rallying 5 per cent to 74¢.

On the other side of the ledger, profit-taking in the big four banks weighed on the local bourse, led by a 2.2 per cent drop to $179.69 for Commonwealth Bank. National Australia Bank lost 1.1 per cent to $38.91, and Westpac came off 0.7 per cent to $33.48.

Retailers were also sold off after rallying earlier in the week on hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia next week. JB Hi-Fi lost 3 per cent to $109.32, Wesfarmers 2 per cent to $83.69, Harvey Norman 1.5 per cent to $5.38, and Myer 1.6 per cent to 62¢.

Elsewhere, housing developer GemLife’s debut on the ASX caught the market’s attention. The shares closed up 4.1 per cent on the first day of trading to $4.33 from its initial public offer price of $4.16.

“We invested and took the IPO,” said Wilson Asset Management deputy portfolio manager Shaun Weick. “Day one, it’s traded pretty well. We rate management very highly – they’re clearly very good operators, and we think domestically they’re exposed to the right markets and sectors.

Stocks in focus

In other corporate news, Pro Medicus jumped 7.8 per cent to $307.39 – at one point cracking an intraday record of $316.47 – after winning two US contracts collectively worth nearly $200 million.

Domino’s Pizza rebounded 2.2 per cent to $17.33 as executive chairman Jack Cowin told investors the business “has got to do better”. The share price tanked nearly 16 per cent on Wednesday on the news that chief executive Mark van Dyck would resign in December. Morningstar said its shares were “materially undervalued”.

And G8 Education fell 7.4 per cent to $1, making for its third day of decline in a row since Victoria Police revealed it had charged one of its former employees, Joshua Dale Brown, with dozens of offences relating to the alleged abuse of eight children. Macquarie has downgraded its target price to $1.15 from $1.53.