The Australian sharemarket closed on a positive note, as a rally in mining stocks more than offset a minor sell-off in afternoon trading.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed up 0.5 per cent, or 39.1 points, to 8231 in thin trading volumes as eight of the gauge’s 11 industry groups closed higher, led by the mining sector. The All Ordinaries also rose 0.5 per cent.

The mining giants tracked a rally in the iron ore price, which rose past $US100 a tonne for the first time in two weeks. Fortescue rose 2.9 per cent to $18.50 and BHP climbed 1.4 per cent to $40.16.

Traders also pounced on Australia’s coal miners which had been sold off in line with a weaker coal price. The benchmark price for top-quality NSW thermal coal hit a three-year low of $US115.51¢ a tonne on Monday.

Whitehaven Coal jumped 6.6 per cent to $6.45 on Tuesday and Yancoal lifted 2.8 per cent to $5.95.

A bout of selling in the afternoon session was led by some of the ASX’s largest players and best performers in 2024. WiseTech dropped 1.3 per cent to $119.40, while Commonwealth Bank closed down 0.5 per cent to $151.96.

“The very few institutional players in the market today were locking in gains from last year,” noted Michael McCarthy, a market strategist at Sydney-based broker Moomoo. “Volumes were anaemic today.… there are so few players around at the moment.”

Consumer discretionary names also sold off on signs of weaker consumer demand in January. JB Hi-Fi dropped 1.6 per cent to $94.92 and Eagers Automotive fell 1.8 per cent to $11.82.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, Ingenia Communities Group rallied 15 per cent to $5.20 after the property developer boosted its earnings guidance for the 2025 financial year to a range of $162 million to $165 million. That’s up from $148 million to $155 million.

Star Entertainment jumped another 12 per cent to 14c after a mystery Macau businessman snapped up a further 28 million shares in the embattled casino operator. Xingchun Wang’s growing interest comes as the company attempts to negotiate with lenders in a bid to prevent its collapse.

City Chic Collective closed 14.6 per cent higher at 11¢ on strong holiday trading – even as the company recorded a 3.6 per cent decline in revenue in the second half of 2024.

Energy Transition Minerals soared 16.3 per cent to 10¢, extending Monday’s gains. The minerals explorer, which is embroiled in a long-running legal dispute with Greenland over its mineral exploration proposals, said its management team would visit the island to “foster strong relationships” with its government.