By Staff writersUpdated December 18, 2025 — 5.24pmfirst published at 5.18amSaveLog in, register or subscribe to save articles for later.Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.Got itNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeThe Australian sharemarket finished Thursday’s session close to where it started, as a fall in energy stocks weighed against modest gains across the wider market.The S&P/ASX 200 inched up 3 points to 8588.20 in the last few minutes of trading, creeping into the green at the close, with seven of its 11 industry sectors in positive territory. The flat outcome follows three days of losses on the ASX. The Australian dollar was lower at US66.03¢ at 4.51pm AEDT.The late uptick came as futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 advanced, pointing to a potential rebound from Wednesday’s sell-off of AI stocks on Wall Street.Wall Street fell again overnight as AI stocks slumped.Credit: APEnergy stocks were the biggest losers on the local market, dragged down by a 2.7 per cent fall in sector giant Woodside, which announced its chief executive Meg O’Neill has resigned to lead global oil major BP. Smaller rival Santos rose 1 per cent after saying it received a $1 billion settlement payment from civil engineering company Fluor Australia after a favourable ruling in the Supreme Court in Queensland.Technology shares largely shrugged off their US peers’ weakness overnight, with software makers WiseTech, Xero and Technology One gaining 1.6 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively. AI data centre operator NextDC, however, slumped 4.4 per cent.The crucial banking sector – which can steer the bourse’s direction through its sheer size, accounting for more than a third of the entire ASX – lacked direction, with CBA up 0.5 per cent, while Westpac dropped 0.5 per cent, National Australia Bank lost 0.6 per cent and ANZ Bank slipped 0.2 per cent.LoadingANZ has been served a vote of no confidence by its shareholders, with the company receiving its second strike in as many years at its annual general meeting on Thursday. The company revealed 32.3 per cent of shareholders had voted against its executive pay scheme, above the 25 per cent required to be considered a “strike” and allowing investors to spill the board and re-elect the company’s directors. Those resolutions did not pass, however, with just 1.45 per cent voting in favour of a spill.Bendigo and Adelaide Bank shares fell 1.5 per cent after financial crimes watchdog Austrac said it had commenced an investigation into the bank, which disclosed problems with its anti-money laundering compliance late last month.AdvertisementMining stocks were mixed, with iron ore heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto up 1.1 per cent each and Fortescue adding 0.7 per cent. Gold miners were weaker, with Northern Star down 1.5 per cent, Evolution Mining shedding 1.1 per cent and Newmont down 0.8 per centNetwealth shares were 1.9 per cent higher after the financial platform business agreed to pay $100 million in compensation to more than 1000 people who invested their superannuation in the collapsed First Guardian Master Fund.LoadingIn response to legal action from the corporate watchdog, Netwealth super trustee businesses admitted they did not make sufficient enquiries to evaluate the risks of First Guardian investment options before offering them to super fund members.Real estate investment trusts advanced, with Scentre, the owner of the Westfield shopping centres, up 1 per cent, fellow retail landlord Vicinity adding 0.8 per cent and GPT Group up 1.1 per cent. Property developer Mirvac rose 1.5 per cent.Car parts seller Bapcor surged 15.5 per cent after saying chief executive Angus McKay would leave the company after its latest profit warning announced earlier this month. He will be replaced by industry veteran Chris Wilesmith, former head of Supercheap Auto.On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 fell 1.2 per cent for its worst day in nearly a month, though it’s still not far from its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones dipped 228 points, or 0.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.8 per cent.Slightly more stocks rose within the S&P 500 than fell, but they got drowned out by the drops for companies in the artificial-intelligence industry.Questions continue to dog the former superstars about whether their years-long dominance of Wall Street meant their prices shot too high, as well as whether all the investment in AI will produce enough profit and productivity to prove worth the cost. Worries are also rising about the debt that some companies are taking on to pay for it all.Broadcom dropped 4.5 per cent, Oracle fell 5.4 per cent and CoreWeave sank 7.1 per cent. Nvidia, the chip company that’s become Wall Street’s most influential stock because of its tremendous size, fell 3.8 per cent and was the day’s heaviest weight on the S&P 500.LoadingPower companies that jumped earlier in the year on expectations for stronger demand from electricity-sucking data centres also lost some of their shine. Constellation Energy fell 6.7 per cent.On the winning side of Wall Street were oil companies, after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela. It’s Trump’s latest escalation in pressure on Venezuela, which may be sitting on more oil than any other country.That sent the price of a barrel of benchmark US crude higher by 1.7 per cent to $US56.06, just a day after it sank to its lowest level since 2021. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.7 per cent to $US59.90 per barrel.Netflix edged up 0.2 per cent after Warner Bros Discovery’s board said it still recommends shareholders approve a buyout offer for its Warner Bros business from the streaming giant, rather than a competing hostile bid from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.Warner Bros Discovery slipped 2.4 per cent, while Paramount Skydance fell 5.4 per cent.On the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of a report coming on Thursday that will show how bad inflation has been for US consumers.with AP, BloombergThe Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.SaveLog in, register or subscribe to save articles for later.World marketsSharesWall StreetLoading