ASX 200 LIVE: Shares flat; Wall St surges on Trump election; ACCC ...

Pinned post – 2.56PM

Australian shares returned to positive territory early on Thursday afternoon in a choppy session, as investors pondered about US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff and pro-growth policies that unleashed euphoria on Wall Street.

All three US indices enjoyed their best-ever post-election day rally after Trump’s decisive victory.

The S&P/ASX 200 edged up 4 points to 8199.9, following a 0.8 per cent rise yesterday. Five of the 11 sectors flashed green and the energy sector led the gains.

“We had a lot of the impact from the US election [already] in yesterday’s trading session as the results were coming out showing that Trump was probably going to win,” said Ryan Felsman, CommSec chief economist.

The rate-sensitive real estate sector dropped more than 2 per cent on concerns Trump’s inflationary policies would keep interest rates high. Westfield operator Scentre Group, Goodman Group and Stockland shed more than 2 per cent.

The big banks were mixed – National Australia Bank trimmed losses to 0.3 per cent. It fell nearly 3 per cent after reporting an 8 per cent slide in cash profit to $7.1 billion in FY24. Westpac receded 2.3 per cent as it traded ex-dividend.

Mining stocks were mixed as concerns that Trump’s tariffs would hurt the Chinese economy and weaken demand for commodities were offset by hopes that Beijing would reveal a strong fiscal stimulus package on Friday.

BHP rose 1 per cent, Rio Tinto 2 per cent and Fortescue 2.8 per cent.

Gold miners dropped after the haven asset tumbled 5 per cent overnight. Gold Resources and Bellevue Gold shaved off more than 6 per cent.

In brighter news, pharmaceutical wholesaler Sigma Healthcare rocketed 23 per cent after the Australian competition regulator gave the nod to its tie-up with Chemist Warehouse.

Financial services provider Steadfast was up 1.5 per cent following the acquisition of London-based insurance broker HW Wood and HWI France for £23.5 million ($46 million) in debt and cash.

Health insurer NIB rose 1.4 per cent after flagging the strongest start for its Australian Residents Health Insurance unit in FY2025 in over a decade.

Buy now, pay later provider Zip fell 1.9 per cent despite reporting a 234 per cent increase in cash earnings in the first quarter of FY25, from a year ago.

Biopharmaceutical company Neuren rallied 6.5 per cent after predicting FY2024 income of between $216 million and $218 million.

Aerospace manufacturer Quickstep Holdings almost doubled its price to 38¢ after receiving a takeover offer at 40¢ from one of its big customers, Asdam Operations.