By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 ended Wednesday’s session just 4 points higher at 7,569.2 as gains among Health Care and Consumer Discretionary were weighed by losses in Materials and Energy.
Among stocks, health companies rallied as Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX:RHC) popped 24.2% following news of a $20 billion takeover bid from global private equity giant KKR & Co LP (NYSE:KKR). CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) added 0.8%, Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) gained 2.5% and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) lifted 2.5%.
Consumer Discretionary also finished 1.1% higher, with JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) up 1.2%, Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) adding 1.7% and Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX:ALL) up 0.6%.
Meantime, major miners suffered following a disappointing quarterly update from Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO). BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) fell 1.6%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lost 0.2%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) dipped 2.7% while Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) lost 5.1% and Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) dropped 3.9%.
Oil related companies also retreated as Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) lost 0.7%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) fell 1.1% and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) shed 0.3%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at fresh 7-year highs of 3.106% while United States 10-Year yields were at fresh 40-month highs of 2.94%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 1.1% to 11,966.