The Australian share market edged lower in a cautious trading day on Wednesday after weeks of political upheaval and market turmoil.
The benchmark ASX200 index fell 7.4 points, or 0.09 per cent, to settle at 7963.7, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 3.1 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 8205.5.
Technology shares rose 0.28 percent to end at 3125.6.
Eight of 11 industry sectors ended in the red, driven by a 1.6 percent decline in real estate and a 1.1 percent decline in energy.
Property titan Goodman Group lost 2.1 percent to $35.25 a share, while Stockland lost 2 percent to $4.42.
Energy stocks suffered as oil prices continued to weaken, with WTI crude shedding 1.8 percent to settle at $76.96 a barrel.
Woodside Energy lost 1.05 percent to $27.24, Santos fell 0.75 percent to $7.90 and Beach Energy fell 3.31 percent to $1.46.
Iron ore prices are also falling, hitting $100 a tonne for a 25 percent year-to-date decline, but the major miners still booked a positive session.
BHP rose 0.24 percent to $41.56, Rio Tinto climbed 0.54 percent to $114.43 and Fortescue added 0.52 percent to $21.32.
Wednesday's relatively flat trading follows a longer period of swings in local and global markets.
Market analyst Josh Gilbert at eToro said investors could “sit on the sidelines” to digest some of the chaos and prepare for upcoming risk events.
“We've got some big earnings reports coming up over the next few days and we've also had a good start to the week in terms of political news which often sees investors take a bit of a risk,” he said.
“We have seen some movement in the dollar and gold and investors may be sitting a bit on the sidelines but to see how the market reacts to any news.
“We've seen it before.
“We also have some key inflation data from the US on Friday and we have key inflation data from here in Australia next week, so some decent risk events coming up.”
Wall St booked a relatively flat overnight session on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones lifting 57 points, or 0.14 percent, to settle at 40,358.
The S and P 500 rose 0.16 percent to 5,555 while the Nasdaq rose 0.06 percent to 17,997.
The major banks were mixed, with Commonwealth Bank and ANZ shedding 0.27 per cent to $132.78 and 0.74 per cent to $29.49 respectively.
Westpac rose 0.74 per cent to $28.53 and NAB climbed 0.62 per cent to $37.59.
In corporate news, Flight Center fell 4.74 per cent to $21.92 after reporting revised profit after tax of between $316m to $324m.
Lithium darling Pilbara Minerals ended unchanged at $2.89 after reporting $305m in revenue for the June quarter, up 58 per cent on March.
The top gainer on the ASX200 was gold miner Red 5 Limited, which rose 6.41 per cent to 41.5c.
The biggest laggard was Telix Pharmaceuticals, which fell 7.2 percent to $18.85 after announcing it had raised $650 million via convertible bonds due 2029.
The company will pay 2.375 percent per annum on the bonds beginning October 30, 2024.
