Rate Hopes Lift Banks, Hawkish Comments Weigh on Gold Miners

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index closed roughly flat at around 9,095 due to opposing forces in play. On one hand, bank shares rose on renewed rate-hike expectations after a recent hot inflation read led traders to price in a higher chance of a Reserve Bank of Australia rate increase.

This typically benefits banks by allowing them to earn more from loans when rates rise faster than funding costs. However, the mining sector weakened, with gold producers particularly affected, following hawkish remarks made at the Jackson Hole conference.

Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining led the decline in gold miners, falling over 4% each as a result of the drop in gold prices. This can be attributed to the fact that many operating costs for these companies are fixed in the short term, making them more sensitive to changes in gold prices.