Stocks close in the black

The local market has broken a three-day losing streak, despite paring early gains.

The Australian sharemarket has snapped its worst losing streak in 10 weeks, as miners and Ramsay Healthcare led the index into positive territory.

At the 4.15pm (AEST) official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 500 had lifted just 0.2 per cent, to 5478.3 points.

It saw the bourse halt a three-day losing run, despite the benchmark paring early gains to close on the day’s low.

Volumes were slightly higher than the 20-day average, with around $5.9 billion worth of shares changing hands.

Ramsay Healthcare stole the spotlight after delivering a 17 per cent rise in profit and a healthy beat to dividend expectations – the stock touched a record high and ended the session 7.8 per cent above its previous close at $81.49.

Ramsay’s rivals had a much rougher session. Estia Health tumbled 15.1 per cent to $3.48 in its second day of losses flowing from a weak earnings report and downbeat guidance, while Japara Healthcare and Regis Healthcare both dropped more than 3.5 per cent.

Investors cheered Austal’s $84 million loss as the ship builder pointed to a strong year ahead – the stock shot up 14 per cent $1.50.

Three of the big four banks pushed the heavy-end of the index higher, with CBA adding 0.4 per cent to $71.90, ANZ and NAB both creeping 0.2 per cent higher, to $26.54 and $27.24 respectively, and Westpac losing 0.6 per cent to $29.65.

Macquarie shares rose 1.7 per cent to $80.52.

Resources stocks had a strong session, with BHP rising 0.9 per cent to $21.11, Rio Tinto gaining 0.8 per cent to $48.90 and Fortescue Metals surging 3.9 per cent to $5.08 despite the price of iron ore remaining flat overnight and oil dropping 1.4 per cent.

Elsewhere, Aconex found some relief, with shares recovering 4.6 per cent to $6.54 after selling off in recent weeks.

CSL did some heavy lifting with a 1.4 per cent gain to $110.14, while Telstra fell 0.8 per cent to $5.29.

Woolworths shares gave up 2.4 per cent to $24.13 and Wesfarmers edged up 0.4 per cent to $43.03.