ASX 200 flat in choppy trade; Whitehaven, Pilbara hit fresh highs; Magellan, Appen sink

ASX consolidates after strong gains this week. Whitehaven and Pilbara hit fresh highs, Magellan plunges on outflows, Appen dives on  profit warning and ERA chair resigns.

Global slowdown concerns and high energy prices are likely to weigh on equity markets. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Thursday, October 6. The Australian sharemarket was mostly unchanged on Thursday as it consolidated gains from its best two-day jump since March 2020.

The S&P/ASX 200 firmed 1.82 points to 6817.50 with five of the 11 index sectors in the green led by energy and utilities.

Wall Street's volatile session ended with the S&P 500 down 0.2 per cent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq off 0.3 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.1 per cent weaker.

Oil prices jumped after OPEC+, led by Russia, agreed to cut production by 2 million barrels a day – the biggest cut since the start of the pandemic. Brent crude climbed 1.7 per cent to $US93.37 per barrel and the US WTI gained 1.4 per cent to $US87.76.

US 10-year bond yields rose to 3.75 per cent and two-year yields climbed to 4.15 per cent.

Iron ore futures gained 0.1 per cent to $US95.26 per tonne with gold futures down 0.6 per cent to $US1720.80 an ounce.

The dollar was near US64.96c at the open.

Originally published as ASX 200 flat in choppy trade; Whitehaven, Pilbara hit fresh highs; Magellan, Appen sink