The Australian sharemarket fell from a record high on Wednesday after the stunning rally in precious metals hit a wall, sending the gold price tumbling by the most in 12 years, while profit taking also plunged rare stocks into the red.

The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 64.7 points, or 0.7%, to 9030, just one day after the sharemarket was boosted by Australia’s critical minerals deal with US President Donald Trump.

Materials were by far the weakest of the seven sectors in the red after gold extended its decline on Wednesday, having slumped as much as 6.3% overnight, while silver dropped up to 8.7%, as traders moved to lock in profits.

Newmont sank 9.6% to $131.36, while Bellevue Gold dropped 9.8% to $1.20, Ramelius Resources 10.2% to $3.52, and Genesis Minerals 10.3% to $5.93.

Rare earths stocks also plunged amid a wave of profit-taking one day after the US and Australia agreed to invest $US3 billion ($4.6 billion) in critical minerals projects, which sent them surging. Arafura tanked 13.5% to 42¢, while Australian Strategic Materials dropped 11.6% to $1.33, Brazilian Rare Earths 7.1% to $5.48, and Australian Rare Earths 10.5% to 26¢.

Those losses were offset by gains in the energy sector, with Woodside up 3.5% to $23.17 after it posted an increase in quarterly production to 50.8 million barrels of oil and raised its output guidance.

Financials were also higher as Pinnacle Investment Management climbed 2.4% to $20.14 on a plan to acquire up to a 13% stake in Advantage Partners, Japan’s largest independent private markets platform. The big four banks were all modestly higher.

In company news, 4DMedical gained 2.8% to $1.85 after securing its first commercial deployment of CT:VQ at Stanford University, marking the start of its US rollout following Food and Drug Administration clearance of the respiratory imaging technology.

Online luxury retailer Cettire dropped 2.1% to 71¢ despite reporting an 18% lift in revenue outside the US in the September quarter, with the average order value higher at $907. Overall sales revenue still shrank 3% to $150.3 million from the US tariffs.

Sigma Healthcare edged up 0.7% to $3.06 after the pharmacy wholesaling and retail giant that runs the sprawling Chemist Warehouse business reported sales accelerated in the first quarter due to booming demand for weight-loss drugs.

Homewares group Adairs gained 8.3% to $2.36 despite forecasting group sales for the first half to now land between $319.5 million and $331.5 million, slightly below prior guidance.

And Air New Zealand fell 1% to 52¢. The airline expects to post a pre-tax loss in the first half of between $NZ30 million and $NZ55 million because of weaker-than-expected revenue and rising costs.