Cautious consolidation following Wednesday’s big gains. Who could blame investors with major central bank and earnings events on the horizon? The S&P/ASX 200 traded around breakeven for most of the session before drifting higher into the close, seeing the benchmark climb 0.52% to 6794.3. It was a mixed performance across the sectors with technology again leading the way with an increase of 3.2%. Other long duration sectors fared well with healthcare and communications adding 1.6% and 2.1% respectively. REITs were the exception to the rule, sliding 1% on the back of broker moves. Consumer discretionary chimed in with a gain of 1.4% while financials added 1%. Energy and materials acted as an anchor for the index, falling 2.8% and 0.1% respectively. The weakness in energy coincided with a flurry of quarterly production reports, including from Woodside and Santos. They fell 4.9% and 1.8% respectively to sit near the bottom of the scoreboard. Rio Tinto shed 2.6% on doubts about the scale of near-term capital returns. Telix and Zip put in a polar opposite performance, soaring 20.2% and 15.8% respectively after releasing quarterlies. Kelsian Group jumped 15.8% after pulling the pin on a proposed acquisition Link Administration climbed 12.9% as it recommended a sweetened takeover offer from Dye & Durham. It’s been such a saga. Hopefully this is the end. Liontown was another standout, lifting 12.2%. As Elon Musk would say, an “insane” gain.

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