Australia's share market is limping forward into the new trading week, as beaten down financials stocks continue their rebound, while oil price risks continue to stifle miners.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 24.7 points by midday, up 0.27 per cent, to 8830.4, as the broader All Ordinaries lifted by 18.7 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 8959.1.
The bounce followed a tech-led sell-off on Friday as AI valuation and competition concerns dragged the Nasdaq back to earth from all-time highs, leaving the local bourse in a solid relative position, Moomoo chief market strategist Tapas Strickland said.
"While the US sell-off shows signs of forced selling, it is confined to technology rather than the wider market – the Dow Jones rose 0.7 per cent for the week and the equal-weighted S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent," Mr Strickland said.
"This shift is a positive lead for Australia, which has low AI exposure and is seeing investors rotate into financials, energy and utilities."
The major banks bounded ahead to kick off the week, helping lift the financials sector more than one per cent in early trade before rolling off to a 0.3 per cent lead by midday.
Challenger Ltd was a stand-out, rocketing more than 17 per cent to $11.52 after TAL Daiichi Life Australia offered $11.80 per share to buy out the investment management firm.
Technology stocks took the soft lead from their US counterparts, dragging the local IT sector 2.7 per cent into the red.
Energy stocks outperformed the market, the segment up 1.8 per cent after oil spiked to five-months highs over the weekend, following fresh Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia's East West pipeline and as more tankers were damaged by Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Crude prices and their impact on the global growth outlook continued to weigh on local miners, with raw materials slumping 0.3 per cent.
Mega miners BHP and Rio Tinto traded slightly better than flat, and were unable to ballast weakness in battery minerals and precious metals producers.
Spot gold inched higher to $US4175 ($A5994) an ounce and is on the cusp of a fourth week ricocheting within its recent trading range.
The industrials sector was the best performer outside of energy, up 0.8 per cent after Cleanaway shares soared by almost a fifth after its board unanimously recommended shareholders approve a $9.4 billion takeover bid.
On the consumer side, staples continued to benefit from defensive positioning, up 0.6 per cent and with strong performances from Elders and Endeavour, while cyclicals fell 0.4 per cent.
In other company news, Mesoblast's value shrunk by more than a tenth despite net revenue from its Rynocil increasing by 44 per cent to $US28 million ($A40.2 million), after sales missed analysts' forecasts.
The Australian dollar is buying 69.64 US cents, up from 49.62 US cents on Friday at 5pm.