ASX finishes lower despite lithium shares huge rally

Australia’s market basically has traded flat on Thursday as investors await key economic news out of the US and Europe.

Australia’s sharemarket sea-sawed throughout Thursday’s trading as the Commonwealth Bank continued its record march higher.

The benchmark ASX 200 index basically traded flat, losing just 2.90 points or 0.03 per cent to 8,538.90.

The broader All Ordinaries also finished marginally in the red down 1.60 points or 0.02 per cent to 8,768.90.

The Aussie dollar temporarily jumped above 65 US cents, but slid throughout the day’s trading and is now buying 64.99 US cents.

Despite taking its breath, the market is closing in on a record high. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Even with the minor falls, the market remains within 20 points of an all-time record close.

On a relatively quiet day of trading seven of the 11 sectors were lower, with information technology, A-REITs, Materials and Telecommunications lifting the ASX.

CBA continued its record run after a late surge saw Australia’s largest bank add 0.13 per cent to $181.34.

Westpac also gained 0.48 per cent to $33.26, while NAB shares slid 0.23 per cent to $38.51 and ANZ was basically flat losing 0.034 per cent to $29.63.

Meanwhile healthcare heavyweight CSL fell 1.32 per cent to $242.96, while Prop Medicus fell 0.89 per cent to $280.82 and Telix Pharmaceuticals dropped 2.83 per cent to $26.43.

Utilities shares also slumped. Origin Energy fell 1.31 per cent to $10.58, while AGL slipped 0.57 per cent to $10.39 and Meridian Energy dropped 2.09 per cent to $5.16.

Thursday’s trading came ahead of a number of key international events led by US President Donald Trump’s much hyped call with China’s leader Xi Jinping, a European Central Bank meeting and American non-farm payroll data.

Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said the markets may hit a lull heading into the non-farm payrolls release, with the upcoming ECB decision also a potentially market moving event.

“The ECB is all but certain to cut rates. However, there’s uncertainty about the guidance the central bank will deliver given the murky outlook for US trade policy and global growth,” he said.

Lithium shares were one of the bright spots on the ASX. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

One of the bright spots was lithium stocks led by the resources sector on the back of the White House announced they are creating new grants to help Albemarle fund a new lithium processing facility.

Mineral Resources surged 15.14 per cent to $23.26, Pilbara Minerals also soared 12.08 per cent to $1.34 and Liontown Resources jumped 5.25 per cent to $0.64.

In company news, Toys R Us has announced it was going into voluntary administration.

Toys R Us shares have immediately suspended from trading on the ASX pending further announcements.

Shares in Tyro slumped 10.38 per cent to $0.82 with investors selling down the payments business on the back of chief executive and managing director Jon Davey announcing he was moving to a new role with a private equity business.

Resimac shares also fell sharply on Thursday, although investors won’t mind as the company is going to pay a fully franked special dividend of 12 cents per share.

Catapult slipped 0.97 per cent to $6.16 after telling the market the company is purchasing US sports technology company Perch for $US18m ($AU27.70m).

Originally published as ASX finishes lower despite lithium shares huge rally