The Australian sharemarket fell on Tuesday amid a broad sell-off, led by declines in the communication services and consumer discretionary sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.3%, or by 24.6 points, to 8956.8 at the closing bell, with ten out of the 11 sectors in the red despite Wall Street finishing in the green. The technology-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 overnight reached record closing highs, ending up 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively.

The All Ordinaries slipped 0.3%.

On the ASX, consumer stocks were the worst performing, with Breville among the worst on the ASX 200, down 4.5% to $28.32 apiece. Wesfarmers lost 1.3% to $90.28 and Aristocrat Leisure fell 1.3% to $68.95.

The communication services sector also recorded losses, with REA Group dropping 2.1% to $223.89, Seek down 1.4% to $28.04, and CAR Group losing 2.9% to $37.21.

The financials sector was in the red, with index heavyweight Commonwealth Bank falling 0.4% to $169.34. ASX Limited shares dropped 1.4% to $58.06 after the corporate regulator approved alternative exchange Cboe Australia’s listing market application. The approval will increase direct competition for sharemarket floats against the ASX.

In commodities, gold rose to a fresh record, nearing $US4000 an ounce, as looming US interest rate cuts and the prospect of a prolonged American federal government shutdown lifted demand. The precious metal rallied as much as 2.2% to top $US3970 in the week’s opening session in New York.

Broker Goldman Sachs raised its gold price forecast for December 2026 to $US4900 an ounce, from $US4300 an ounce previously. The broker cited strong inflows into exchange-traded funds and central bank buying.

Shares for the ASX’s largest gold miner, Newmont, were 0.4% higher to $133.82.

Rio Tinto shares were up 0.5% to $124.18. The mining giant reiterated its focus on Western Australia’s Pilbara with a $US733 billion ($1.1 billion) iron ore mine expansion with its Japanese business partners.

Web Travel shares rallied 3% to $4.17 after the hotel aggregator business, spun out of Webjet, said it was on track to deliver record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for fiscal year 2026.

Defence-tech company DroneShield announced that it is spending $13 million to build a new research and development facility in Adelaide. Shares were down 3.7% to $6.06.

Gold producer St Barbara slumped 11% to 52¢ and was the worst performer on the All Ordinaries. The miner announced that it had received commitments for an institutional placement to raise $58 million before costs.

And Brisbane Broncos shares tumbled 16.4% to $1.40 as investors took profits following the rugby league club’s 26% surge on the back of winning both the NRL and NRLW grand finals on Sunday. The company is the only publicly listed sports club in Australia.