End-of-day summary:
The share market ground out a second day of gains as advances in banks and consumer stocks outweighed declines in iron ore and gold miners.
The repair-work from Monday's thumping 143-point plunge continued with a rise of 17 points or 0.22%. Three of big four banks advanced. Wesfarmers, Goodman Group and Rio Tinto also rose. The day's drags included BHP, Newmont and Woodside Energy.
Iron ore prices continued to fall in China after closing yesterday at a five-month low. The most-active ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange declined 1.8% this afternoon. Gold fell 1% overnight as warmer-than-expected US inflation data prompted some investors to take profits following a recent run of records.
US stocks took the inflation data in their stride. The S&P 500 rallied 1.12% to a new record.
