Australian sharemarket drifts lower in lacklustre trading session, miners the biggest drag

The ASX drifted lower today after an uninspiring lead from Wall Street, with miners dragging on the market.

The Australian sharemarket drifted lower throughout Tuesday after an uninspiring lead from Wall Street, with the mining sector the biggest weight on the local market.

The S&P/ASX200 finished 0.9 per cent lower at 6738.4 while the All Ordinaries Index lost 0.95 per cent to 6969.8.

OpenMarkets Group chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said US markets were flat overnight but would be closely watching President Joe Biden detailing his COVID stimulus plan on Tuesday night.

Mr Tchourilov said BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals had “all but given up yesterday’s gains”.

BHP fell 2.07 per cent to $44.91, Rio Tinto gave up 2.37 per cent to $109.60 and Fortescue declined 2.33 per cent to $20.10 despite an uptick in iron ore prices.

Gold miner Resolute sank 7.69 per cent to 42 cents after reporting a Luxembourg-based investor was no longer a substantial shareholder.

Gold miners Resolute and Silver Lake Resources were among poor performers. Picture: Jung Yeon-je/AFP

The company revealed last week the mining lease for its Bibiani mine in Ghana, which it plans to sell to Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining, had been terminated. About half an hour after that bombshell, it notified the ASX that Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group — one of Japan’s biggest banking institutions — was no longer a substantial investor.

Another gold miner, Silver Lake Resources, backtracked 5.59 per cent to $1.52 amid weaker prices for the precious metal.

Other poor performers included online bookie Pointsbet, which slumped 9.25 per cent to $12.27, and vitamins giant Blackmores, which dropped 5.25 per cent to $79.29.

The big four banks were mixed, with ANZ gaining 0.39 per cent to $28.10, Commonwealth Bank easing 0.2 per cent to $85.40, National Australia Bank retreating 0.84 per cent to $25.91 and Westpac inching 0.08 per cent higher to $24.36.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it would not oppose NAB’s proposed acquisition of digital bank 86 400 Holdings, which delivers its services through a smartphone application.

The competition watchdog has cleared National Australia Bank to acquire a digital bank. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

Chair Rod Sims said innovative fintechs played an increasingly critical role in the market and feedback suggested 86 400 reduced the time and effort in completing home loan applications.

“In an otherwise lacklustre market, accounting software provider Xero is marching to its own beat and bucking the trend,” Mr Tchourilov said.

“The stock has recently pulled back around 30 per cent from late 2020 highs.”

Xero shares rose 2.2 per cent to $125.62.

Other improvers included Telstra, up 1.18 per cent at $3.43.

News Corp, the owner of this title, slipped 2.25 per cent to $30.40.

The media giant announced overnight in the US it would buy part of book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, adding popular novels from authors such as George Orwell and JRR Tolkien to News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers division for $US349 million ($A456m).

News Corp is adding classic books Animal Farm and The Lord of the Rings trilogy to its publishing division.

AGL Energy announced it planned to split its business into two, creating energy retailer “New AGL” and electricity generator “PrimeCo” by the end of this financial year.

Shares in AGL were down 3.54 per cent at $9.81.

Despite the fall on the broader market, the ASX remains 0.98 per cent higher in March, with just one trading day remaining for the month and quarter, CommSec said.

The Aussie dollar was fetching 76.46 US cents, 55.54 British pence and 65 Euro cents in afternoon trade.