AU Evening Wrap: ASX Rally Late to Close Flat; Fletcher Plummets 11%

Australia's $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU)$ closed flat at 7750.0, recovering its losses at the end of a day spent entirely in the red.

Consumer and health stocks were the best performers as the benchmark index rallied from almost 0.4% down over the last hour of Monday's session. Retailers $Lovisa Holdings Ltd(LOV.AU)$, $Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd(HVN.AU)$, $JB Hi Fi Ltd(JBH.AU)$ and $Super Retail Group Ltd(SUL.AU)$ put on between 1.6% and 2.1%. Larger-cap health stocks $CSL Ltd(CSL.AU)$, $ResMed Inc(RMD.AU)$ and $Cochlear Ltd(COH.AU)$ put on between 0.3% and 1.4%.

The heavyweight financial and materials sectors both finished flat after late recoveries. $Westpac Banking Corp(WBC.AU)$, $National Australia Bank Ltd(NAB.AU)$ and $CommBank(CBA.AU)$ added between 0.1% and 1.3%. $ANZ Group Holdings Ltd(ANZ.AU)$ traded ex-dividend and fell 3.0%.

$Copper Futures(JUL4)(HGmain.US)$ prices increased on Monday, supported by investors' hopes for Federal Reserve rate cuts and rising demand from China, the world's largest consumer of copper. Additionally, supply disruptions provided further support to the market. On the London Metal Exchange, three-month copper was up 0.6% at $10,060 per metric tonne, while the most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose by 1% to 81,050 yuan ($16,985) per tonne.

$Fletcher Building Ltd(FBU.AU)$, a New Zealand construction company, has revised its earnings guidance for fiscal 2024 downwards due to a slowdown in the residential sector that is affecting its distribution division. The company announced in a filing with the New Zealand bourse on Monday that earnings before interest and taxes are now expected to be between NZ$500 million and NZ$530 million. This is lower than the previous guidance of NZ$540 million to NZ$640 million given at the time of the interim results in February.