The Australian sharemarket rose for a second day on Thursday, as ANZ delivered its best session in nearly six years after reporting a $1.94 billion first-quarter cash profit that smashed market expectations.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index hit an intraday high of 9105 – near its 52-week best of 9115.20, but heavy selling of software stocks late on Thursday on renewed AI fears saw it finish up just 28.70 points, or 0.3%, at 9043.50. Four of the 11 sectors were stronger.

Financials rallied for a second consecutive session as ANZ jumped 8.5% to a record $40.35 as the pace of restructuring by chief executive Nuno Matos took the market by surprise. ANZ’s cash profit for its first quarter rose 6%, driven by cost savings from thousands of staff layoffs.

Commonwealth Bank rose a further 5.4% to $178.74 after its results beat on Wednesday sent the shares up the most in a single session since 2020. Westpac added 1.8% to $41, and National Australia Bank by 2.3% to $46.54.

One outlier was AMP, which sank 26.7% to $1.28 – its biggest intraday drop since 2003, after missing expectations. Investors were left disappointed by the lack of a share buyback or any other capital return in Alexis George’s final results as chief executive.

Global X ETFs investment strategist Marc Jocum said that the session once again been unforgiving at the stock level with those that deliver beats rewarded with sharp gains while those that miss were being servery punished by investors.

“The index may be hitting record highs, but the most recent earnings season has been a minefield for investors running individual concentrated bets. It’s a sharp reminder that markets reward earnings that beat expectations and the margin for error is razor thin,” he said.

Australian software and data stocks fell after US peers slumped on renewed AI disruption fears afte a three-day reprieve. Last week stocks tumbled after Anthropic unveiled legal tools for its Cowork assistant, stoking concerns over the future of traditional software providers. WiseTech Global plunged 6.6% to $47.57, Xero 8.4% to $76.92 and TechnologyOne 6.9% to $21.70.

Also limiting gains was CSL, which fell 6.9% to $152.19, taking total losses since Tuesday to nearly 20%, after it was downgraded by RBC and Morgan Stanley following an earnings miss and the sudden exit of its chief executive.

In other earnings results, online homewares and furniture retailer Temple & Webster dived 32.6% to $7.64 as it reported a 36% slump in half year net profit to $5.76 million – a 32% miss on expectations.

Pro Medicus dived 23.9% to $129 as first-half revenue of $125 million was 5% below consensus, while underlying earnings before interest and tax was off 14%.

Troubled market operator ASX Ltd fell 1.7% to $54.44 as it reported an 8.3% rise in half year net profit to $263.6 million, but the gains were wiped out by a 20% jump in expenses.

Origin Energy added 3.9% to $11.50 after the company upgraded its full-year energy markets EBITDA to between $1.55 billion to $1.75 billion. Investors shrugged off a 36% drop in half-year profit to $593 million.

Northern Star rose 4% to $29.39 after reporting a 41% jump in half-year net profit to $714 million and an interim dividend of 25¢.