The Australian sharemarket opened higher on Tuesday, buoyed by a rally in metal prices as geopolitical turmoil and reports of a probe into Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell sent gold towards a record high.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.3%, or by 24.8 points to 8784.20 at 10.10am AEDT, with five of the 11 sectors stronger.

Materials jumped by more than 1% with spot gold ripping toward $US4600, as traders digested reports of a US Department of Justice probe involving Powell. “As we’ve seen before, when confidence in central bank independence is questioned, bullion tends to thrive,” Moomoo Australia dealing manager Jimmy Tran said.

This saw Evolution Mining rose 0.7%, Northern Star 0.8% and Newmont by 0.4%. Copper also neared a record high aided by a weaker dollar and supply concerns. This saw BHP add 1.2%, Rio Tinto 1.5% and South32 by 2.3%.

Financials were higher with the Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ all up by around 0.2% to 0.4%.

Utilities was the weakest led by a 3.2% decline in Origin Energy, while APA Group fell 1.5%.

Endeavour Group, which owns Dan Murphy’s and BWS, fell 2.9% as its forecasted profit before tax of $400 million to $411 million came in 10% below analysts’ expectations as heavy discounting weighed on sales.

L1 Group rallied 4.6% as it has reported assets under management of $17.64 billion as of December 31, up about $700 million over the quarter.

Lynas Rare Earths rose 1.1% as veteran chief executive Amanda Lacaze announced her retirement following 12 years in the role.

BlueScope firmed 0.3% as investment company Vanguard’s stake in the steelmaker rose to 6.04%, from 5.0% previously.

Suncorp added 1.4% as Citi cuts its FY26 EPS forecast by 9%, with FY27 and FY28 lowered by 1%, trimmed its price target to $18.50 from $19.25.

Fletcher Building lost 0.3% as it reported a modest improvement in key product sales volumes for the December quarter but warns the lift is not enough to offset earlier declines, with meaningful recovery not expected until 2027.