Tech, property stocks drop as ASX closes lower on mixed day of trading, investors weigh up oil prices

Australia’s sharemarket slipped on a quiet day of trading as investors continue to weigh up the impacts of rising oil prices off the back of the Middle East conflict.

Australia’s sharemarket edged lower during Thursday’s trading, with gains in the healthcare and materials sector offset by falls in technology and property stocks.

The benchmark ASX 200 dropped just 8.40 points or 0.10 per cent to close Thursday’s trading at 8,550.80.

The broader All Ordinaries also slipped down 6.30 points or 0.07 per cent to finish at 8,773.60.

Australia’s dollar is now buying around 65.30 US cents.

The ASX fell slightly despite rises in the healthcare and materials sector. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

On a quiet session for the ASX, seven of the 11 sectors finished lower with gains in healthcare, materials and energy offset by falls in technology, property and industrials.

These gains were offset by larger falls in the technology and property shares, down 2.05 and 0.71 per cent respectively.

Market heavyweight CSL gained 0.64 per cent to $239.98, while Pro Medicus was up 0.25 per cent to $277.73 and ResMed finished in the green gaining 1.19 per cent to $39.97.

The major iron ore miners had mixed results despite the price of the underlying commodity rising.

Fortescue metals gained 0.34 per cent to $14.93, while BHP traded basically flat, up just 0.03 per cent to $36.12 and Rio Tinto retreated slightly down 0.11 per cent to $104.19.

IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said it was a mixed day for the ASX 200.

“The ASX200 has seen a return to narrow daily ranges and low volumes, characteristic of last week’s trading patterns, with just a 26-point range today after yesterday’s narrow 30-point range,” he said.

“The quiet session for the ASX200 followed a dull session on Wall Street, as Middle East tensions faded further into the background.”

Oil prices rose again after US President Donald Trump said the US has not given up on its “maximum pressure on Iran” including restrictions on sales of Iranian oil.

The price of Brent crude futures rose by 0.35 per cent to $US67.99 on the back of Mr Trump’s comments.

Shares in Santos rose 0.79 per cent to $7.63, while Woodside slid 0.62 per cent to $23.85 despite the price of oil rising.

Seven of the 11 sectors traded lower. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

In company news ANZ was one of the stronger performing shares on the ASX 200 despite the big four bank announcing the retirement of group executive technology group services Gerard Florian will retire.

Xero led tech stocks down after the accounting software provider announced a $3.9bn cash and shares plan to buy the US based software company Melio.

Shares slumped 5.26 per cent to $184.00 on the back of this announcement.

Meanwhile, the saga between Betr and MIXI for control of PointsBet continues, with Betr slamming PointsBet for an “unprofessional and irresponsible” behaviour after saying a takeover bid from MIXI had passed as a result of Betr revoking its votes.

Shares in PointsBet fell 1.26 per cent to $1.18 while Betr shares were up 1.82 per cent to $0.28.

Defence contractor DroneShield continued its march higher, after it rose another 11.7 per cent to $2.39 on Thursday.

This follows gains of almost 20 per cent in the previous session after the defence technology company announced a $61.6 million European military deal for its handheld detection and counter-drone systems.

Originally published as Tech, property stocks drop as ASX closes lower on mixed day of trading, investors weigh up oil prices