Market Wrap / Monday comeback

A sharp sell-off on Wall Street in the wake of Friday's disappointing non-farm payrolls report soured global risk sentiment and led to a negative start on the local bourse.

However, the S&P/ASX200 attempted a comeback across the session to finish marginally higher at 8,663.7 points.

The gold miners did the heavy lifting as they benefited from the bullion price jumping on the prospect of a September rate cut in the US and renewed tariff tensions. Vault rose 6.8% along with Northern Star, up 5.6%.

The banks lost ground with ANZ down 1.6%, while consumer staples was the best performing sector with Endeavour Group up 3% after its executive chairman resigned. 

The first full week of earnings season began with Beach Energy rising 3.5% as it rewarded shareholders, despite reporting an annual loss, while Argo Investments is paying out a record dividend. Shares were fairly flat, sliding 0.1%. 

Among the companies reporting full year results this week are AMP, Pinnacle, Nick Scali and QBE.