The Australian sharemarket finished marginally higher on Tuesday, as a slew of positive earnings results were offset by a major sell-off in pharmaceutical giant CSL.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index edged up just 1.2 points to 8484.1 at the close despite seven of the 11 sectors finishing higher, led by industrials and technology stocks. The All Ordinaries rose 0.1 per cent.

Upbeat earnings results from Macquarie Group to Seven West Media had helped keep the bourse in the green. Macquarie gained 1.6 per cent to $231.54 after the investment bank said it was on track to meet full-year guidance. That’s after its third-quarter performance broadly matched last year’s.

Seven West Media rallied 6.1 per cent to 17.5¢ despite reporting a slump in half-year profit to $18 million. It did, however, flag that the advertising market was finally turning, sending its shares higher along with Nine Entertainment, the publisher of The Australian Financial Review, which rocketed more than 14 per cent to $1.47.

Ramsay Health Care lifted 1.4 per cent to $34.73 despite announcing plans to slash the value of its European and British assets and saying it no longer expects profit to rise this financial year.

Healthcare stocks still weighed on the ASX 200 after index heavyweight CSL tumbled 5 per cent to $256.96 after the biotech said low immunisation rates in the United States hurt first-half sales for its vaccination business.

Stocks on the move

Elsewhere on the ASX, gold miners rallied after the price of the precious metal continued to reset its record high throughout the session to trade at about $US2925 an ounce. Evolution Mining, De Grey Mining and Northern Star Resources all rose more than 4 per cent, closing at $6.22, $2.14 and $4.04, respectively.

Lithium miners tracked a sell-off in Asia after a major electric vehicle battery maker restarted production at its lithium operation, putting downward pressure on prices.

Liontown Resources slumped 9.1 per cent to 60¢ and Mineral Resources dropped 6.9 per cent to $32.62.

Patrick Trindade, senior wealth adviser at Sequoia Wealth Management, said the impact of US tariffs on Chinese batteries could also be hurting sentiment.

“Chinese batteries will probably be one of the big losers from the Trump tariffs. People are becoming more and more cautious towards our resources sector,” he warned.

In corporate news, SGH rose 6.2 per cent to $51.65 after the company formerly known as Seven Group Holdings hiked its dividend 30 per cent, thanks to strong returns from Boral.

Breville slipped 0.4 per cent to $36.89 after paring heavier losses. The company increased its dividend from 16¢ to 18¢ per share and said it expected full-year earnings to gain between 5 per cent and 10 per cent.

Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT jumped 8.5 per cent to $2.80 after boosting its full-year distribution guidance to 15.2¢ a unit up from 15¢ a unit.

And Region Group, the country’s biggest owner of smaller suburban malls, closed down 2.3 per cent at $2.13. The company recorded a net loss of $35 million in the six months through December.