Banks pull sharemarket lower in slow trade

THE sharemarket closed slightly weaker as gains by healthcare companies and several miners were outweighed by falls in the energy and banking sectors.

The benchmark ASX 200 fell 4.5 points to 5758.8 points, its second straight modest fall after strong gains on Tuesday.

Macquarie Private Wealth division director Martin Lakos said it was a quiet day of trading. “The lead from overseas was subdued and a rebound on the Nasdaq had little influence locally, so the market has been vacillating between positive and negative throughout the day,” he said.

An overnight slump in oil prices hit the energy sector, with Oil Search and Santos each down 1.3 per cent, though Woodside Petroleum recovered from early falls to close 0.2 per cent higher.

The financial sector was also down, though the big four lenders managed to recover some of their early falls.

NAB dropped 0.3 per cent, ANZ shed 0.6 per cent, Commonwealth Bank lost 0.75 per cent and Westpac was 0.9 per cent weaker.

Mr Lakos said the market got a boost from stronger than expected trade numbers that showed a recovery in coal exports in May, which could lead to improved economic growth in the June quarter. INSURER Suncorp says it has finalised more than half the claims lodged from Cyclone Debbie.

Suncorp says it is finalising about 100 claims a day in the wake of the cyclone, which left an insurance bill in excess of $1 billion.