Mining and energy stocks have dragged the Australian sharemarket – leaving it unable to follow a strong lead from Wall Street overnight.The benchmark ASX 200 slipped 14.20 points or 0.16 per cent to 9005.90, while the broader All Ordinaries eked out a tiny loss of 2.30 points or 0.03 per cent to 9196.00.Australia’s dollar lifted against the greenback to buy US 72.06 cents.This was due to traders putting about a 65 per cent chance of an interest rate hike in Australia, while the comments from US Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller suggested American rates could be left on hold. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver warned the RBA may be forced to lift interest rates again in September. “GDP growth was still strong enough to reinforce expectations that the RBA is on track to raise rates again with some now talking of two more rate hikes (versus none two weeks ago),” he said.On a mixed day of trading six of the 11 sectors finished higher, but falls in materials and energy stocks outweighed gains in technology.Mining giant BHP slumped 2.40 per cent to $62.25, Rio Tinto fell 0.68 per cent to $175.90 and Fortescue bucked the trend as it added 1.59 per cent to $17.22. A rally in the US tech heavy Nasdaq 100 carried over to the Australian sharemarket with WiseTech Global up 2.53 per cent to $37.69, NextDC jumped 2.55 per cent to $12.86 and Life360 firmed 4.11 per cent to $20.75. Also hitting the ASX was higher energy prices with benchmark Brent Crude oil trading back above US$95 ($A132) a barrel. Despite the higher price of oil, energy stocks dropped with Woodside down 1.21 per cent to $31.83, Santos fell 0.85 per cent to $8.21 and Ampol dropped 6.01 per cent to $41.65. ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said the standoff between the US and Iran could linger on with little sign of a quick fix. “A prolonged stand-off, punctuated by calibrated military action by the US and Iran, remains the most likely scenario,” he said. Since March, more than 1.9bn barrels of crude has been lost from Persian Gulf producers, with ANZ warning output may not return until the second half of next year. In company news, infant formula stock Bubs jumped 7.53 per cent to $0.10, before announcing a trading halt in preparation for an announcement in relation to the US food and drug administration.The company will resume trading on Tuesday, September 8. Peter Warren Automotives rallied 3.22 per cent to $0.80 after it received approval from the ACCC to buy eight dealers from Wakeling Automotive. Shares in Nine Entertainment had their worst day of the year – diving 8.50 per cent to $0.92 after WIN Group announced it had increased its stake in the company to 31.18 per cent.Corporate Travel Management continued its decline down 3.02 per cent to $2.25 following Thursday’s brutal 86 per cent crash when it returned to the market.Read related topics:ASX