The S&P/ASX200 rose 32.6 points on Wednesday, up 0.37 per cent, to 8,841.1, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 33.3 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 9,034.6.
The top-200 surged more than 75 points in early trade but handed back more than half of those gains by the close as momentum faded, as traders looked to tech-focused markets for volatility.
"Investors are just not looking at the Australian market as closely as some of the other ones at the moment - Korea is where the big dogs are playing at the moment," Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston told AAP.
"As an international destination for capital, Australia is not really ticking a huge amount of boxes right now."
Mega miner BHP did some heavy lifting, up more than three per cent to $60.56 as iron ore futures advanced on the tail of better-than-expected industrial production figures from China, despite June quarter GDP undershooting forecasts.
Rio Tinto notched a 1.1 per cent advance after it held its 2026 financial year production guidance steady.
Gold miners were broadly lower, as the precious metal eased to $US4,030 ($A5,769) an ounce, as Evolution dragged on the sub-index after it flagged cost increases in its June quarter update.
Elsewhere in raw materials, battery minerals and rare earths producers improved as the sector gained 1.7 per cent.
Energy stocks eased 0.6 per cent, as oil's recent rally ran out of steam and investors took profits on recent rallies in Woodside, Santos and refinery operators Ampol and Viva Energy.
The heavyweight financials sector ended the session almost 0.2 per cent higher, thanks in part to a strong rally from Macquarie and a late rebound in CommBank shares to $170, as Westpac, NAB and ANZ bled lower.
Local banks still faced negative expectations of near-term returns for house prices, made worse by concerns the Reserve Bank might not be finished hiking interest rates, Mr Weston said.
Communications stocks underperformed the other sectors with a 1.2 per cent drop, as Telstra fell to $4.89, its weakest close since February as the fallout from the previous week's outage grinds on.
Consumer-facing stocks were in the red, with staples shedding almost 0.6 per cent in a broad-based slump, while cyclicals lost 0.2 per cent.
In company news, Webjet shares soared five per cent after it appointed former Wesfarmers and Australia Post executive Nicole Sheffield as managing director and CEO.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Pexa, sparking a more than three per cent sell-off in the property settlements platform.
The Australian dollar is buying 69.86 US cents, up from 69.28 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm, as the greenback eased after a drop in US inflation softened the Federal Reserve interest rate outlook.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 gained 32.6 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 8,841.1
* The broader All Ordinaries advanced 33.3 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 9,034.6
One Australian dollar trades for:
* 69.86 US cents, from 69.28 US cents at 5pm AEST on Tuesday
* 113.32 Japanese yen, from 112.49 Japanese yen
* 61.12 euro cents, from 60.85 euro cents
* 52.09 British pence, from 51.88 pence
* 120.11 NZ cents, from 119.78 NZ cents
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