Beaten-up mining stocks were among the last-minute purchases by Australian fund managers scouring the market for bargain buys ahead of the new calendar year.

The final few months of 2024 were volatile for the Australian sharemarket. It rose substantially in November following a bullish market reception to Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, only for the S&P/ASX 200 Index to retreat as much as 4 per cent in December.