Thanks afternoon crew.
End-of-day summary:
Gold miners provided much of the excitement during an otherwise downbeat start to a new month as a US holiday sapped the Australian market of momentum.
The ASX 200 dropped 45 points or 0.51% this afternoon to its lowest in a week and a half.
The gold sub-sector surged 5.76% after US President Donald Trump downplayed Friday's consumer price data, reviving concerns that his focus on lower interest rates will drive up inflation. Capricorn Metals, Genesis Minerals and Westgold Resources all gained more than 7.8%.
"US President Trump posted on Truth Social about an hour ago, claiming prices in the USA are 'WAY DOWN' with virtually no inflation, triggering a $35 rally in [spot] gold prices from $3,438 to a high of $3,471, just $29 below its $3500 record high from 22ndof April," tweeted IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
An otherwise downbeat session here saw tech companies, consumer stocks and banks spearhead losses following a soft end to last week on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.64% ahead of the Labor Day long weekend. US exchanges remain closed tonight.
