The Australian sharemarket opened higher on Tuesday as gains by the heavyweight miners and banks offset falls elsewhere.
The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 0.4 per cent, or by 35.10 points, to 8670.10 at 10.10am AEDT, with six of the 11 sectors stronger.
Financials was the best performer, up 1.1 per cent in early trade, with ANZ up 2 per cent, National Australia Bank by 1.7 per cent, Commonwealth Bank 1.4 per cent and Westpac by 1.1 per cent.
Miners were mixed with BHP and Rio Tinto up 0.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively as copper rose overnight as markets focused on tight supply next year, with renewed disruptions and resilient demand offsetting concerns about the global economy, ANZ says. Among gold miners, Northern Star fell 0.7 per cent, but Newmont rose 0.7 per cent.
DroneShield rocketed 19.6 per cent to be the market leader, as it secured a $49.6 million contract through a European reseller supplying a military end-customer. Shares in the company soared 10.6 per cent in the previous session to $2.30.
Stocks in focus
In company news, REA Group fell 3.2 per cent on Google’s moves to display real estate ad, sparking a sell-off of US property peers including Domain-owner CoStar and Zillow. Citi said that Google’s was unlikely to have a major impact on REA.
Southern Cross Electrical Engineering added 2.5 per cent after it secured contract awards totalling about $90 million across data centre and rail projects in NSW.
Star Entertainment was flat at 10.5¢ after it announced Bruce Mathieson Jnr would become executive chairman after the departure of Steven McCann as chief executive at the end of Tuesday.
