A decent lead from Wall Street made for an upbeat open, but this time it wasn’t about resource stocks. Materials closed down 1.5%, not helped by Rio’s production hiccups and shaky forward guidance. RIO closed down 2.8%. The energy complex also took a breather along with a step down in the oil price. Woodside closed down 0.7% and Santos down 1.08%, despite the latter planning a share buyback. M&A is never far away, and this time it was private equity offering overs for Ramsay Health Care. It closed 25% higher and still nowhere near the $88 indicative bid. Whitehaven Coal’s update reflected a record coal price, shares closing up nearly 3%, a 3-year high. A lack of policy easing over in China deflated the morning rally, and in the end S&P/ASX200 only managed to add 4 points, to 7569. 

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