Staff writersUpdated August 25, 2026 — 11:19am,first published August 25, 2026 — 5:17amThe Australian sharemarket advanced for a second straight day after a flurry of corporate results fuelled broad-based gains, helping it shrug off a mixed finish on Wall Street.The S&P/ASX 200 finished 61.50 points, or 0.7 per cent, higher at 9164.60, with all 11 industry sectors bar energy in the green. The local market added 0.5 per cent on Monday. The Australian dollar was trading at US71.48¢.Reporting season continued, with Coles, Woodside Energy and Ansell among companies that released results. Investors also digested the minutes of the Reserve Bank’s latest meeting, when it kept interest rates on hold.Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish, providing little direction for the ASX.BloombergThe central bank two weeks ago chose to keep its key rate unchanged at 4.35 per cent on signs that elevated inflation was gradually easing and the labour market beginning to loosen, giving it scope to assess incoming data for any signs that upside risks might “crystallise”.Minutes from its meeting show the board discussed at length the case to raise or hold the cash rate, deciding it was best to pause and wait for additional information to get a better handle on the trajectory of inflation. It pledged to remain alert and ready to act on rates if needed.“The case to hike is quite high still. Again, it’s really data-dependent,” said AMP economist My Bui. “The discussion really shows you that they don’t know,” she said, adding, “it really depends on what the inflation numbers for the quarter come out to be”.Consumer staples, healthcare stocks and banks paced the local market’s gains on Tuesday.Coles shares jumped 4.9 per cent after Australia’s second-biggest supermarket chain reported a slight rise in annual profit despite a challenging economic environment that pushed up prices. Its bigger rival Woolworths rose 0.8 per cent. Dairy company A2 climbed 6.3 per cent.Coles grew total sales by 2.8 per cent to $45.6 billion, with supermarket sales revenue up 5.1 per cent. The supermarket’s profit of $1.09 billion was hit by a provision of $235 million that had been set aside after the Federal Court last year found Australia’s biggest supermarkets failed to keep accurate records of staff. Excluding this, net profit lifted 13.7 per cent to $1.25 billion.The grocer said it has entered the new financial year in a strong position, with its flagship supermarkets division gaining market share and sales in the first eight weeks, the new financial year “consistent” with the final quarter of last year.Medical equipment maker Ansell pushed healthcare stocks higher, jumping 8.2 per cent after saying its profit – adjusted for one-off gains and charges such as US tariff refunds and legal costs – rose 15.8 per cent to $US212.3 million in the past financial year. It flagged further growth for the current year, with higher sales volumes and prices making up for cost inflation from the war in the Middle East. Other healthcare stocks were strong as well, with CSL up 2.7 per cent and ResMed up 1.7 per cent.Of the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank edged up 0.1 per cent, National Australia Bank added 0.6 per cent, Westpac rose 0.8 per cent and ANZ Bank added 0.5 per cent. Investment bank Macquarie Bank gained 1.7 per cent.The mining heavyweights also bolstered Tuesday’s market, with the world’s largest miner BHP closing up 0.8 per cent at $67.67, a fresh record high. Its smaller rival Rio Tinto rose 1.1 per cent but Fortescue dropped 1.2 per cent.Gold miners Northern Star (up 0.6 per cent) and Evolution Mining (up 1 per cent) advanced as gold prices consolidated after a four-day rally. Bullion earlier spiked 1 per cent to nearly $US4700 an ounce, the highest intraday level since mid-May. The metal has added about 7 per cent over the past week after the US Treasury ramped up buybacks of long-dated government debt. The unexpected move has revived concerns about rising borrowing costs and exerted downward pressure on the US dollar, making gold that’s priced in the currency cheaper for many buyers.Ignoring a tech sell-off on Wall Street overnight, tech was the strongest sector in Tuesday’s session. It was led higher by WiseTech Global, which jumped 4.6 per cent after the software concern said it appointed former local Oracle and SAP Australia boss Tim Ebbeck to its board as an independent non-executive director. He will also chair its audit and risk committee. Xero climbed 2.6 per cent and data centre operator NextDC rose 1.7 per cent.On the downside, oil and gas giant Woodside lost 1.4 per cent after scaling back its clean energy ambitions to double down on fossil fuels. Management said it will target $US350 million in annual cost savings from 2028, partly through a pullback of lower-carbon investments. The decision reflects a “change in customer appetite” for lower-carbon products and “delay to policy frameworks”, chief executive Liz Westcott said after releasing the company’s half-year result.The reset comes as higher oil and liquefied natural gas prices boost Woodside’s earnings, and the company prepares to spend heavily on expanding its fossil-fuel business. Its net income rose 27 per cent to $US1.7 billion in the six months through June from the same period a year earlier, even as production fell 13 per cent to 86.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.Santos dropped 1.3 per cent, while refiner Ampol rose 1.5 per cent. Viva Energy lost 3.2 per cent after saying its oil refinery in Geelong still isn’t back to full capacity following a huge fire in April. The company, which runs the Shell petrol stations across Australia, said its half-yearly profit surged 331 per cent as its refining margins jumped in the fuel crunch caused by the war in the Middle East.Crude has gained more than 50 per cent this year as the war – now in its sixth month – continues to disrupt the shipping of oil and refined fuels out of the Middle East.Brent traded near $US92 a barrel, after falling more than 2 per cent in the previous session, as the US ramped up economic pressure on Iran and its trading partners in a bid to force the resumption of energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Countries will face a specific timeline to shut down links with Iran or face unilateral punishment, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday as part of what he called an “economic D-Day” campaign.Endeavour, the operator of bottle-shop chains Dan Murphy’s and BWS, and hundreds of pubs around the country, slumped 2.8 per cent after its profit plummeted almost 88 per cent to $52 million in the past financial year, weighed down by $372 million in charges, to account for the declining value of assets and restructuring costs.SiteMinder tumbled 11 per cent after its result fell short of expectations. The hotel commerce platform narrowed its full-year net loss to $11.3 million from $24.5 million a year ago as revenue rose 18.6 per cent to $266 million, below the $272 million analysts had expected.Meanwhile, Bitcoin climbed above $US80,000 for the first time since mid-May, as optimism returns to the long-beaten-down crypto market amid a confluence of bullish signals that forced the liquidation of billions in leveraged bets.On Wall Street overnight, stocks drifted to a mixed finish as the countdown ticks towards potentially market-moving events coming later in the week.The S&P 500 slipped 0.3 per cent and pulled a bit further from its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 140 points, or 0.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.8 per cent.With AP, BloombergThe Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.From our partners