Updates as of close
Miners up 1%, banks down 1.1%
Technology stocks up 2.1%
TWE shares rise as much as 8.1%
By Anjali Singh
Feb 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed flat on Tuesday as gains in miners and gold stocks were offset by declines in banks, while insurance stocks came under pressure after the launch of an AI tool by Insurify.
The S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO ended 2.7 points lower at 8,867.40, after rising 1.9% on Monday.
Financials .AXFJ weighed on the benchmark and slid 1.1%, dragged down by sharp losses in insurance companies.
"The insurance brokers are weaker following the lead from their U.S. peers after the release of news that digital competitor Insurify has released a ChatGPT comparison app, potentially impacting the long term value of brokers," said Luke Winchester, portfolio manager at Merewether Capital.
"It sums up where we are in the current market with regards to AI fears, a peer releasing an app has wiped billions off the market capitalisations of the insurance broking sector."
Shares of Steadfast Group SDF.AX, AUB Group AUB.AX and Insurance Australia Group IAG.AX fell between 6.1% and 9.5%.
Capping losses, miners .AXMM advanced 1% on higher iron ore prices. BHP Group BHP.AX rose 1.1% and Rio Tinto RIO.AX gained 1.4%.
Gold stocks .AXGD climbed 1.3% for a second straight session, with Genesis Minerals GMD.AX up 2.8% and St Barbara SBM.AX rising 4.4%.
Technology stocks .AXIJ added 2.1%, tracking overseas peers. WiseTech Global WTC.AX gained up to 2.6% and Xero XRO.AX rose 2.2%.
Energy stocks .AXEJ advanced 0.6%, with uranium miners Deep Yellow DYL.AX and Paladin Energy PDN.AX up 7.1% and 5.5%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, shares of Treasury Wine Estates TWE.AX were up 8.1%, after it settled a dispute with U.S. distributor Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) over the closure of its California operations.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed 0.501% higher at 13,513.68.
(Reporting by Anjali Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
((anjali.singh2@thomsonreuters.com))