ASX 200 down by 0.1 per cent; JB Hi-Fi gains 6.9% after flagging lower profits

ASX drops 0.1 per cent with six sectors in the red. Pointsbet, Zip Co and Virgin Money among the laggards, Imugene and JB Hi-Fi climb, while Ampol flags increased refinery margins.

Local trading is expected to remain muted with Wall Street closed for a public holiday on Monday. Photo: Nikki Short/ NCA NewsWire

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Tuesday, January 18. The Australian sharemarket was dragged lower on Tuesday by sluggish health care, utilities and industrials stocks.

After trading up by 0.3 per cent earlier on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down by 0.1 per cent to 7408.8. The All Ordinaries index lost 3.5 points to close at 7735.8.

Equity benchmarks in London, Paris and Frankfurt all ended the day higher, while Japan’s Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite advanced. Wall Street closed for a public holiday.

Global oil prices edged higher, with the US Nymex crude price up 0.6 per cent to $US84.30 a barrel. Iron ore fell 2.2 per cent to $US124 a tonne.