The Wrap: Sharemarket treads water as oil prices hit three-month low

Welcome to your two-minute recap of the trading day and how the experts saw it.

The numbers: The ASX 200 closed with a minor gain of 0.23 per cent, or 15.3 points to 6621.6, after a flat day on the Australian sharemarket.

Seven out of 11 sectors ended higher but a 1.8 per cent drop in energy and a 1.6 loss in utilities dragged on the market. Woodside was the market’s laggard, falling by 2.8 per cent to $30.14. BHP sank 1.4 per cent and Santos fell 1.3 per cent.

The major banks all made gains of 0.3 to 1.1 per cent bar ANZ, which closed 1.2 per cent lower as it weighs up a purchase of MYOB, with seller KKR reportedly seeking a valuation of more than $4 billion for the accounting software firm.

Following yesterday’s news of Zip and Sezzle cancelling their merger, Zip rallied one per cent and Sezzle plunged 22 per cent to its lowest ever close at $0.20.

The lifters: Megaport 7.3%, Pilbara 5.8%, Pointsbet 5%

The laggards: Viva Energy -2.8%, Woodside -2.8%, Tyro Payments -2.3%

The lowdown: Tech, consumer staples and the industrials sectors all lifted by just under 1 per cent on Wednesday but the Australian sharemarket was subdued by falling oil prices.

The global oil price benchmark, Brent crude futures, slumped 7.1 per cent to a three-month low of US$99.49 per barrel amid fears a COVID-19 resurgence in top importer China could dent demand. Oil has given up the bulk of its gains seen in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which drove prices above $US130 a barrel in March.