Australian shares flat as banks offset gains in miners, IT; WiseTech soars
WiseTech gains 4.7% after its $2 billion offer for US co
May 26 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed flat on Monday, as losses in banks and utilities offset the gains made by miners and IT stocks, while WiseTech Global soared on announcing its biggest-ever takeover deal.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed unchanged at 8,361 points. The benchmark had finished at 8,360.9 points on Friday.
Financials, which advanced 1.7% in the last two weeks, lost 0.2% on the day, with the "Big Four" banks losing between 0.1% and 1.3%.
"Investors are likely profit-taking following a strong run for the banks due to their safe-haven nature," said Grady Wulff, a market analyst with Bell Direct.
IT stocks gained 1% as sector major WiseTech Global hit a three-month peak after announcing a $2.1 billion takeover offer for U.S. cloud computing firm E2open.
Mining stocks, which account for around 25% weightage of the benchmark, rose 0.6% as uranium miners soared, while higher metal prices added to the positive sentiment.
Paladin Energy and Boss Energy climbed 9.3% and 7.5%, respectively, following U.S. President Donald Trump's move to sign an executive order on Friday to boost U.S. nuclear energy production.
"... Demand for Aussie uranium producers is set to rise following Trump's latest move, which boosts the growth outlook for such stocks," Grady said.
Utilities shed 2.4%, dragged down by Origin Energy's 4.5% decline after downgrading forecast for its Octopus Energy business.
"Origin Energy downgrading UK guidance is a significant difference and investors clearly weren't prepared for such a swing in the negative direction," added Grady.
Meanwhile, energy firms ended flat and consumer staples lost 0.2%.
Gold stocks gained 2% despite a dip in the price of the yellow metal.
"Gold miners have increasingly attracted investor attention over the last 12 months and even more so when markets face increased volatility," added Grady. Evolution Mining rose 3.4%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.4% lower to 12,547.22 points. (Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
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