Australian shares gain as miners rise, banks fall
At midday on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 15.5 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 8,683.7, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 20 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 8,946.2.
Traders were digesting minutes from the Reserve Bank's July 7-8 meeting, in which the central bank surprised observers by leaving interest rates on hold rather than trimming them.
The minutes said most board members felt cutting rates for a third time in the space of four meetings "would be unlikely to be consistent with the strategy of easing monetary policy in a cautious and gradual manner to achieve the Board's inflation and full employment objectives".
Market participants were also pondering the reason for Monday's 1.0 per cent pullback, which followed a 1.37 per cent rally on Friday that had left the index at its highest level ever.
Monday's heavy selloff following Friday's all-time high mirrored a pattern that had occurred around half a dozen times last year, IG analyst Tony Sycamore said.
"While I find this pattern intriguing, I am still struggling to explain the rationale behind it," he wrote.
In the absence of a better theory, it is possible Monday's pullback was profit-taking ahead of the August earnings season that is likely to highlight stretched valuations in certain sectors, particularly the banks, Mr Sycamore said.
The ASX's financial sector was the worst performing at midday, down 1.2 per cent, while the materials/mining sector was the best performing, up 1.9 per cent.
All four of the big retail banks were in the red with CBA down 2.0 per cent, NAB falling 1.6 per cent and Westpac and ANZ both dipping 1.1 per cent, while all of the major miners were in the green.
BHP had grown 2.4 per cent, Fortescue had advanced 2.5 per cent and Rio Tinto had added 2.7 per cent.
Goldminers were also doing well as the yellow metal traded for a one-month high of just over $US3,400 an ounce.
Newmont had advanced 2.7 per cent, Evolution had risen 2.2 per cent and Emerald Resources had added 4.9 per cent.
Back in the financial sector, Insignia had soared 11.5 per cent to $4.38 after the company formerly known as IOOF agreed to be acquired by a US-based private equity firm for $3.2 billion.
CC Capital will pay $4.80 a share, a 56.9 per cent premium from Insignia's share price in December when news of its interest first became public, but less than the $5 per share price that CC lobbed in March.
The Australian dollar meanwhile was buying 65.22 US cents, from 65.17 US cents around 5pm on Monday.
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