Today’s final closing price hides the dramatic changes on the stock market today. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 76 points, or 1 per cent, in the first three hours following news of an Iranian missile strike on US and Iraqi airbases in Iraq. FNearly everything but gold and oil stocks were down in a replay of Monday’s market.
However, the ASX gradually recovered nearly all of the losses to close just 9 points lower at 6817.6. The difference between opening and closing price was just -0.1 per cent. By the final close only 132 companies were in red.
The healthcare and energy sectors added the most points, thanks to gains in oil producers and a 0.9 per cent rise in CSL to $285.85. Communications increased 0.6 per cent due to a 0.8 per cent rise in Telstra shares to $3.74, and materials gained 0.2 per cent as gains in gold and lithium miners, and building product suppliers outweighed declines in iron ore miners. Aluminum miners fell as the aluminum price dropped 0.9 per cent on Wednesday.
The financials sector took away the most points with a fall of 0.5 per cent as all but one (QBE Insurance) of the stocks softened. And information technology dropped 1.2 per cent with falls of at least 3 per cent in WiseTech Global and Appen, and falls of 2.4 per cent in NextDC and nearmap.