Market Wrap / jobs jolt

The Australian sharemarket rallied more than one percent at the open, but quickly lost momentum when June's jobs numbers were released

While the unemployment rate remained at 4.4%, 76,000 jobs were created last month, well above consensus, sending the Aussie dollar higher and prompting bets that interest rates will be hiked further.

The S&P/ASX 200 finished up 0.18% at 8839.

Macquarie Group shares ended 0.5% lower on news that CEO Shemara Wikramanayake would retire in November with Greg Ward named as her successor.

James Hardie surged 6.1% after upgrading its quarterly sales guidance.

The best performing stocks were again found in the resources sector with Fortescue rising over 1%, while a surging bullion price boosted the goldies, Evolution rising 1.8%.

And copper producer Sandfire Resources rose 3.6% as it rounded out FY26 with record quarterly revenue.

Energy stocks tracked the rising price of oil after Houthis attacked Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. Karoon jumped 3.5% after its sales revenue surged over the June quarter and uranium miner Paladin rose 11.6%.

Tech was again the weakest sector after Alphabet's earnings disappointed Wall Street. Xero fell 5% and WiseTech finished about 7% lower.

Shares in wealth platform Generation Development soared above 37% after reporting record quarterly sales.

Tonight, Intel results will provide a further gauge of the AI trade.