Share market’s flat finale

But energy producers gain with hike in oil price

THE Australian share market has finished flat after a holiday-shortened Christmas Eve session where health care and energy stocks were the best performers.

The benchmark S&P/ ASX200 index finished on Tuesday 9.1 points, or 0.13 per cent, higher at 6,794.2 points in thin trade, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 11.6 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 6,906.4 points.

The result snapped a run of three straight sessions in the red. Consumer staples and tech stocks had the largest losses when the market closed at 1410 AEDT, but energy producers banked solid gains on an oil price spike.

Santos, Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search, and Origin were each up between 0.48 per cent and 0.89 per cent, while Beach energy outperformed the lot, rising 3.17 per cent to $2.60.

Biotech giant CSL was up 1.31 per cent to $282.29, Cochlear shares rose 0.12 per cent to $232.74, and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals

gained 1.72 per cent to $29.06. There was little Christmas cheer for consumer staples stocks as the sector fell by a collective 0.64 per cent, and the consumer discretionaries dipping 0.04 per cent.

Coles was down 1.17 per cent at $15.25, Woolworths was down 0.51 per cent at $37.37, Bega Cheese slipped 0.7 per cent to $4.26, and A2 Milk fell 0.68 per cent to $14.53.

Jumbo Interactive gained 0.55 per cent to break three sessions of losses, while Webjet slid 1.13 per cent and Baby Bunting dropped 0.58 per cent.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP was up 0.03 per cent at $39.23, Rio Tinto was up 0.17 per cent to $102.00 and Fortescue Metals was up 0.83 per cent to $10.91.

South32 fell 0.74 per cent and BlueScope Steel dropped 0.71 per cent The big four banks were mixed, with ANZ flat at $24.73, Commonwealth down 0.16 per cent at $80.71, NAB edging up 0.04 per cent to $24.86 and Westpac down 0.12 per cent to $24.21.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank was down 0.7 per cent, Bank of

Queensland fell 0.41 per cent and Macquarie Group was up 0.16 per cent.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.34 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 0.09 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 0.23 per cent.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed unchanged while the FTSE 100 index in the UK ended 0.54 per cent higher.

The ASX is closed again today as it was on Christmas Day but will reopen tomorrow.