The Australian sharemarket inched higher on Tuesday after a day of relative calm from the White House, spurring some cautious optimism for a softer approach to US President Donald Trump’s punitive trade agenda.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index lifted 0.2 per cent, or by 13.1 points, to 7761.7 at the close, extending gains into a second session. The All Ordinaries rose 0.1 per cent. Just four of 11 sectors were in the green, led by healthcare.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied after some volatility with the S&P 500 closing up 2.2 per cent, buoyed by Apple after investors greeted a tariff pause on certain electronic imports as a welcome reprieve for technology stocks.

Trump also said overnight that he was exploring possible temporary tariff exemptions on imported vehicles – days after the White House confirmed electronics including iPhones would be temporarily excluded, and it announced a 90-day delay on sweeping reciprocal tariffs.

Little conviction

In Australia, caution prevailed with the sharemarket paring an early 0.6 per cent gain as US futures turned negative.

“We’re not buying the market with a whole heap of conviction,” said Patrick Trindade, a senior wealth adviser at Sequoia Financial Group. “I don’t think a lot of people are because it could all change on a dime again tomorrow.”

In Australia, investors sought out defensive stocks. CSL rose 2.6 per cent to $244.10, helped by Morgan Stanley singling out the stock as its preferred pick to weather US tariffs. The big banks also buoyed the market with Commonwealth Bank up 0.5 per cent to $158.04, Macquarie 0.8 per cent to $180.15 and Westpac 0.8 per cent to $30.76.

Mining stocks posted some of the largest gains as investors spied opportunities amid the US-China trade tensions. Rare earth miners Iluka Resources – the best performer – rose 5.2 per cent to $3.62. Gold miner Evolution advanced 3.9 per cent as spot prices neared a record, inching up 0.5 per cent to $US3226.58 an ounce.

Those gains tussled with the tech sector as WiseTech declined 2.2 per cent to $84.86 and TechnologyOne 2 per cent to $27.93. Miner Bellevue Gold posted the biggest loss, slumping 21.8 per cent to 89.5¢ after a $156.5 million new share placement.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, Collins Foods dropped 7.7 per cent to $8 after announcing it would exit Taco Bell in Australia amid a slew of operational changes announced by the restaurant chain owner.

Perpetual slipped 1.4 per cent to $17.19 after its net outflow more than doubled in the third quarter to $8.9 billion, as investors pulled money from global and US funds. UBS also downgraded Perpetual to neutral.

And, Accent Group advanced 4.7 per cent to $1.90 after announcing it would launch UK sports retailer Sports Direct in Australia and New Zealand under a new partnership struck with London-listed Frasers Group.