Australia’s sharemarket has climbed after strong performances from mining and energy stocks helped counterbalance broader weakness. The S&P/ASX200 recovered from an early dip to gain 8.9 points on Monday, up 0.1 per cent, to 9029.7, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 0.2 per cent to 9163.4. Miners provided most of the session’s upward momentum as gold and copper prices rebounded, while a slump in banking stocks led seven of 11 local sectors into the red. ANZ shares slid 3.2 per cent despite beating consensus expectations after the bank reported a 31 per cent jump in cash profit to $7.6 billion for the year to September driven by lower bad debts and better cost control than expected. The bank previous year’s result was dragged down by charges from a cost-cutting drive. ANZ said that if these “significant items” were excluded, its cash profits for the year rose 10 per cent. Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank all ended the day lower. Mining stocks moved in the opposite trajectory. BHP added 2.74 per cent, Rio Tinto was up 1.55 per cent and Fortescue rose 0.66 per cent. Gold miner Evolution Mining jumped 4.8 per cent and rival Northern Star climbed 0.78 per cent. Oil prices dipped in early Asian trade with Brent crude 0.6 per cent lower at $US97.72. Woodside Energy’s shares slipped marginally by day’s end, Santos made a small gain, while Ampol also finished slightly lower. The Australian dollar is buying 68.93 US cents, up slightly from 68.87 US cents at 5pm AEDT on Friday. On Friday on Wall Street, AI stocks bounced back and recovered some of their selloff following a whirlwind few days of Wall Street trying to sort out what this week’s sweeping victories by Democrats in the US midterm elections will mean for the economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent and trimmed its loss for the week to 2.7 per cent, which was its worst since President Donald Trump shook markets in April 2025 with his “Liberation Day” tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 237 points, or 0.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.1 per cent. The relative steadiness for Wall Street halted what had been a worldwide tumble for stocks. Indexes dropped 6 per cent in Tokyo and in Seoul following the US market’s plunge on Thursday. European indexes have fewer stocks tied to the artificial-intelligence industry, but Germany’s DAX nevertheless lost 1.9 per cent. Friday’s biggest lift for the S&P 500 came from Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the face of the boom and possible bust of the AI frenzy. Its stock climbed 2.8 per cent, coming off drops of 9.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent. It and other companies tied to the build-out of AI data centres tumbled this week on worries that Democratic victories in statehouses across the country could mean a slowdown in further construction, particularly in Texas. Voters across political parties say they’re wary about AI and don’t like increases to power bills caused by data centres. That built on top of worries already rattling the industry that further construction of AI data centres may slow because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money. Before that, even, critics were saying AI stock prices had shot too high and were in a bubble. But political power in Washington will still be split between a Democratic Congress and a White House run by the Republican Trump, who retains the power to veto. That could limit federal efforts to rein in the AI industry. In the bond market, Treasury yields held firmer following sharp drops earlier in the week triggered by tumbling stock prices and hopes that split control of Washington could limit how much more the US government adds to its debt. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.86 per cent from 4.84 per cent late Thursday. It had topped 5.30 per cent last month when worries about inflation, higher interest rates and rising government debt were spiking. Helping to support yields was a report released Friday morning showing US employer
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