The sharemarket edged higher for a fifth session on Thursday amid a busy day of company results as broad buying helped to offset another day of falls for the mining giants.

On the day, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2 per cent or 14.8 points to 7865.5 points as six of the 11 industry groups climbed. The All Ordinaries also rose by 0.2 per cent.

The materials sector finished down 1.2 per cent tracking a weaker iron ore price. Futures traded in Singapore fell to their lowest level since 2022, to below $US94 a tonne, as data showing Chinese steel production fell in July fuelled worries Australia’s key trading partner faces an extended slowdown.

Shares of BHP lost another 1 per cent to $39.21, its lowest level since 2022, Rio Tinto dropped 3.6 per cent to $108.40, while Fortescue was off 2.9 per cent to $16.82.

“China is being priced for entrenched deflation,” said Damien Boey, chief macro strategist at Barrenjoey. “We have been underweight resources recently.”

In the US, Wall Street rose after the nation’s inflation eased to 2.9 per cent in July – its lowest level since March 2021 – in an outcome that is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on track to cut rates in September.

Stock movers

The best-performing business on the S&P/ASX 200 was engineering and mining services group NRW Holdings, after it posted a net profit up 18.6 per cent to $123.8 million. The stock jumped 9.7 per cent to close at a 52-week high of $3.50.

The worst-performing sector on the day was utilities, falling more than 4 per cent, after energy retailer and sector heavyweight Origin Energy tumbled 9.4 per cent to $9.60.

While Origin posted a 32 per cent jump in net profit for the year to June 30, chief executive Frank Calabria warned that energy markets’ profits for the coming year would be softer, echoing the outlook given by rival AGL.

Elsewhere, hearing aid manufacturer Cochlear tumbled 7.3 per cent to $313 after its guidance for profit growth between 6 per cent and 11 per cent in financial 2025 missed expectations.

“Cochlear produced a solid result with underlying net profit up 27 per cent, but this might fall short of market expectations and the guidance appears relatively soft,” said Andrew Dale, a partner at ECP Asset Management.

In other news, industrial property giant Goodman Group beat its own profit guidance for financial year 2024, although shares traded down 1.3 per cent to $34.71.

Telstra’s annual net profits slid 13 per cent to $1.79 billion after higher operating costs offset a small rise in revenue. It will pay a final dividend of 9¢ a share, bringing its total dividend for the year to 18¢ a share.

Among the fund managers, Magellan jumped 7.6 per cent to $10.44 after it said it would take a stake in Vinva Investment Management and reported an adjusted net profit up 2 per cent to $177.9 million for financial 2024.

And Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates lifted its final dividend payout by 11.7 per cent to 19¢ a share, even though annual profits tumbled because of heavy write-downs in its commercial wine division. The shares climbed 2 per cent to $12.35.