Energy players including heavyweight Woodside (down 0.9 per cent), Ampol (down 1.2 per cent) and Viva Energy (down 1.2 per cent) were also weaker.

The lowdown

Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said the ASX 200’s rally on Wednesday was broad-based but that healthcare and iron ore miners were the heavy lifters.

However, he said the market’s short-term performance mostly depended on sentiment on Wall Street. “That sentiment will probably be driven by what comes from US inflation data and the Federal Open Market Committee [FOMC] minutes tonight,” he said.

US stock indexes held at a near standstill again as traders made their final moves ahead of some potentially market-moving reports.

The S&P 500 edged up by 0.1 per cent after barely budging the day before. The Dow Jones slipped less than 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.3 per cent.

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Treasury yields eased in the bond market ahead of Wednesday’s highly anticipated update on inflation at the US consumer level. This week will also bring other reports on inflation, while big US companies will begin delivering their reports for how much profit they made during the first three months of the year.

The dominant question hanging over Wall Street is whether inflation will cool enough to convince the Federal Reserve to deliver the cuts to interest rates that traders are craving and have been betting on.

Some doubts have crept in following a series of hotter-than-expected reports on the economy, and traders now expect just two or three cuts to rates this year. Some are even talking about the possibility of zero. That’s down from forecasts at the start of the year for six or seven cuts, according to data from CME Group.

A barrel of benchmark US crude fell $US1.20 to settle at $US85.23, trimming its gain for the year so far below 20 per cent. Brent crude, the international standard, fell US96¢ to $US89.42 a barrel.

On the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.35 per cent from 4.42 per cent late Monday.

In Europe, stock indexes sank ahead of the European Central Bank’s decision on Thursday regarding interest rates. Many investors expect the bank to hold rates steady.

Stock indexes were mixed in Asia, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumping 1.1 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi falling 0.5 per cent.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“It’s a supermarket code … Bunnings is just not a supermarket,” said Bunnings managing director Michael Schneider as the company rejected a push for it to be subjected to a mandatory food and grocery code of conduct.

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