The Australian sharemarket slipped at midday, led by a sell-off in consumer staples as investors weighed a flurry of profit results that hit the ASX on Monday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 0.1 per cent or by 5.3 points to 7965 at noon, weighed down by the consumer staples sector, which declined 1.2 per cent. Meanwhile, utilities stocks were the best performing, led by Origin rallying 2.7 per cent. The local sharemarket rallied 1.
Among commodities, gold stocks rallied after the precious metal forged a fresh record above $US2,500 a tonne. Newmont and Northern Star both rose 0.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively. Stocks in focus Elsewhere, Westpac rallied more than 1 per cent after it posted a $1.8 billion unaudited net profit for the three months to June 30, up 6 per cent on its average quarterly return in the first half, the bank revealed on Monday. Suncorp rose 1.