By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - the S&P/ASX 200 finished little changed added 4.7 points or 0.1% to 7,250.6 on Thursday as commodity prices lifted following better than expected Chinese manufacturing data released yesterday, while Financials and Staples retreated.
Among stocks, major miners rallied with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) up 4%, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) adding 3.9% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) up 4.1%.
Gold miners also gained as Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) lifted 2.3%, Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) added 2%, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) lifted 3% and Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) gained 4.4%.
Energy was up 1.3%, with Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) adding 0.6%, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) up 1.8%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) lifting 0.9% and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) up 4.8%.
Financials finished 1.8% lower as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) dipped 2.4%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) lost 1.7%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) fell 2.2%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) dipped 1.6% and ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lost 2.7%.
Consumer Staples finished 1.3% lower with Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) down 1.7%, Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL) falling 3.3% and Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX:EDV) down 0.8%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.855%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.2% to 11,900.9.