The share market has rebounded from early losses to close flat, as bargain hunters stepped in.
“The decline we’ve seen over the last two to three days was US focused, with the US technology sector, but it doesn’t apply to our market today to any great degree,” CMC chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.
Wall Street slumped for a third consecutive day on investor concerns that high flying technology stocks are overvalued.
Locally, technology based stocks such as Seek and Carsales were “pretty grounded” compared to the valuations being placed on US tech giants such as Facebook, Mr Spooner said.
“We’ve also seen a bit of value hunting after some buyers stepped back earlier in the day,” he said.
Jobseeker site SEEK dropped 46 cents to $16.24, online real estate business REA Group shed 90 cents to $45.30 and online job outsourcing company Freelancer dropped 13 cents to $1.25.
The big banks were mixed, with National Australia Bank up two cents at $35.20, Commonwealth Bank down 10 cents at $76.76, ANZ up seven cents at $35.55 and Westpac two cents weaker at $34.46.
The mining sector performed strongly, with BHP Billiton up 14 cents at $37.88, Rio Tinto added 55 cents to $64.50 and Fortescue Metals gained 13 cents to $5.59.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining was 20 cents higher at $10.50.
Shares in Cabcharge were down 22 cents to $3.87 after the NSW government announced cuts to the maximum card surcharge on taxi payments, which will reduce the company’s income.
KEY FACTS
* At the close on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 3.1 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 5,410.6.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 6.9 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 5,409.2.
* The June share price index futures contract was five points lower at 5,403, with 13,665 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 1.28 billion securities worth $3.2 billion.
