“It’s totally understandable that he would sell some, but it does send a little bit of a red flag to the rest of the market that directors are moving,” Dawes said. “Certainly, the coal sector has been one of the better sectors in our market, and it was probably due for a bit of a pullback.”

Evolution Mining had a positive day after its announcement of significant new copper-gold extensions at their Ernest Henry site. Although the results were not reflected in the current mineral resource, the stock surged to $7.74 at close.

The company’s executive chair, Jake Klein, said the “outstanding copper-gold grades and widths in the new drilling results demonstrate the exciting potential for mineralisation to extend up-plunge and at depth.”

Qantas shares continued to rise during early trading on Thursday after the airline lifted its profit forecasts on Wednesday, with the airline up 2.1 per cent to $6.31 by midday. However, the market as a whole had a bit of afternoon drop-off, and the airline was trading up 0.2 per cent by end of day.

Harvey Norman shares were down 1.4 per cent after the company held its annual meeting, despite the retail giant’s chairman, Gerry Harvey, being optimistic about the retailer’s future. Aggregated sales were up 6.9 per cent, but the company said they were affected by depreciation in some of the world’s biggest currencies. The company has also flagged a major expansion into the Malaysian market, with plans to grow there from 28 to 80 stores by 2028.

Loading

Energy giant AGL’s shares are down 1 per cent after it announced it would close South Australia’s Torrens Island B gas-fired power plant in 2026. The company, which is Australia’s largest power supplier, has been facing mounting pressure from billionaire activist investor Mike Cannon-Brooks to accelerate decarbonisation.

All four big banks fluctuated during trading on Thursday, flip-flopping between positive and negative territory.

In the US, stock indexes closed higher after the Fed’s minutes showed that a “substantial majority” of policymakers agreed it would “likely soon be appropriate” to slow the pace of interest rate rises in the world’s largest economy. The S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent, the Dow Jones rose by 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq jumped 1 per cent.

Long-term US Treasury yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slipped to 3.71 per cent from 3.76 per cent.

US markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving and will close early on Friday.

Wall Street has been closely watching the latest economic and inflation data for any signs that might allow the Fed to ease up on rate increases. Investors are worried that the Fed could slam the brakes too hard on economic growth and bring on a recession.

Tweet of the day:

Quote of the day:

“We are losing money with this power station in the current environment,” said AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof on Thursday after the announcement that the energy company would shut its Torrens Island power station.

You may have missed:

Dutch bank ING has vowed to fix its anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing systems, after an investigation by financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC found flaws in the lender’s compliance.

With AP

The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.