The Australian sharemarket finished lower on Thursday, led by a sell-off in mining stocks and amid reports that senior US officials were preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index swung between gains and losses before finishing down 7.5 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 8523.7 after briefly edging higher as Commonwealth Bank forged a fresh record. Seven of 11 sectors fell, led by the materials sector.

“Tensions in the Middle East and softer data coming out from the US are making people concerned about the global growth outlook,” said WaveStone Capital portfolio manager Catherine Allfrey. “This is pushing resource stocks down, and when that happens, traders buy domestic exposures like the banks.”

Eyes on Trump

With Wall Street closed for a public holiday on Thursday, volumes were lacklustre despite the US Federal Reserve keeping interest rates on hold amid the economic uncertainty and geopolitical risk. The US central bank said it still expected to make two interest rate cuts by the end of the year.

Investors are also sitting on the sidelines as they await further news out of the Middle East. Bloomberg News reported that US officials were preparing plans for a potential weekend strike.

“Markets remain on hold as we await to see what Trump decides,” said Richard Coppleson from Bell Potter. “Israel-Iran attacks have now gone for six days, thankfully without any major escalation, the world is awaiting Trump’s decision on US involvement.”

Oil prices swung through the US session after topping $US74 a barrel overnight and iron ore was trading around $US92.60 a tonne in Singapore, the lowest level since September. This week, Citi also downgraded its iron ore forecast for the short term to $US90 a tonne.

The weaker prices dragged on the mining giants – BHP fell 2 per cent to $36.13, Rio Tinto 2.3 per cent to $103.55 and Fortescue 1.7 per cent to $14.77.

Gold miners fell following a decline in the precious metal price to $US3389 an ounce. Perseus was down 3.8 per cent to $3.56 and Evolution 4.5 per cent to $7.78. And utility stocks were also sold off. Origin dipped 1.4 per cent to $10.85 and AGL Energy 1.4 per cent to $10.19.

Stocks on the move

Banks helped limit losses on the ASX. Commonwealth Bank closed at a record $182.85, after climbing 1.5 per cent. National Australia Bank rose 1.1 per cent to $39.12, and Westpac jumped nearly 1.7 per cent to $33.59. ANZ made a more modest rise of 0.3 per cent to $29.13 after announcing that retail boss Maile Carnegie would leave the bank.

In corporate news, Kathmandu and Rip Curl owner KMD Brands fell 3.8 per cent to 26¢ after it said the warmer weather in Australia over the autumn had dented sales. The group’s underlying earnings for FY25 are now expected to fall between $NZ15 million and $NZ25 million ($13 million and $23 million) compared with $NZ50 million in the year before.

WiseTech Global dipped 1.9 per cent to $106.89 after announcing that directors Charles Gibbon and Michael Gregg would exit the board. Sandra Hook, a former News Corp and Fairfax executive, and Rob Castaneda, the founder of tech company ServiceRocket, will join it.

And pharmaceutical giant CSL fell 1.4 per cent to $238.71 amid news Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s revamped immunisation advisory panel was set to discuss old topics concerning vaccine safety next week, according to Bloomberg.