Shares break a record high; Predictive Discovery and Robex in $2.3b gold mining merger; Finaccess Restauracion eyes takeover of Restaurant Brands.

The Australian sharemarket edged lower on Monday after an early broad rally petered out, with gains in gold and copper miners offsetting losses in tech.

After spending the morning higher, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.1 per cent or 9 points at 8,978.6 by 2.30pm ADST. The local bourse briefly reset a closing high of 9,019.1 of August 21, but was unable to sustain gains as losses in the tech sector deepened, in line with the Nasdaq on Friday.

Accounting software firm Xero shed 2.3 per cent, followed by WiseTech down 2.2 per cent.

Out of the 11 sectors, five were still flashing green with miners and energy in the front seat. Lynas was the top performer on the ASX 200 with a 7.6 per cent gain, followed by Iluka up 4.8 per cent.

Gold and copper miners led gains after prices of both metals veered higher. Bullion reached an all-time high of $US3926.29 in morning trade on Monday, putting it a whisker away from the $US4,000 mark.

In response, Newmont jumped 2 per cent, Northern Star added 1.6 per cent, Evolution Mining rose 1.5 per cent, and Perseus Mining gained 0.9 per cent.

Copper prices, meanwhile, climbed to a 16-month high on supply worries following a deadly accident at a major mine in Indonesia on Sunday. Sandfire Resources advanced 3.6 per cent, Kincora Copper flew 5 per cent higher and Atayla climbed 3.4 per cent.

The big mining groups, however, fell with Rio Tinto down 0.7 per cent and BHP 0.1 per cent lower.

In the financial sector, the big banks were split with ANZ 0.2 per cent lower, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank flat, while Westpac rose 0.4 per cent.

In other news, Brisbane Broncos soared 33 per cent to a record high of $1.68 after their big win at the NRL grand final.

Stocks on the move

In corporate news, dual-listed Restaurant Brands rose 0.7 per cent after it received notice from majority stakeholder Finaccess Restauracion for a full takeover offer at $NZ5.05 ($4.46) per share.

Auckland Airport fell 1 per cent even though the Commerce Commission ruled out the need for an inquiry into airport regulation following Air New Zealand’s request.

Gold miner Predictive Discovery (PDI) surged 11.4 per cent after it announced a merger with Canada’s Robex Resources in a $2.3 billion deal. Under the plan, Robex shareholders will receive 8.667 PDI shares per Robex security.