The Australian sharemarket rose on Tuesday as a recovery in technology and uranium stocks gathered momentum after last week’s sell-off from concerns over massive spending on artificial intelligence.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 14.70 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8884.8 at 2.01pm AEDT. Eight of the 11 sectors were trading in the black, led by materials.

The Australian dollar was also higher as it consolidated around US70.90¢ after rising to a three-year high of US70.98¢, buoyed by a falling US currency and a global rally in equities.

Technology was the strongest sector as data centre operator NextDC jumped 3.5 per cent, Megaport 3.7 per cent and Xero by 3 per cent. Uranium miners saw strong gains after heavy selling last week on fears that AI demand would not trigger a boom in nuclear power. Paladin rose 5.3 per cent, Deep Yellow 7.8 per cent, and NexGen Energy 3.5 per cent.

Miners trimmed earlier gains but remained higher as copper traded near $US13,000, helping BHP to add 1 per cent, Rio Tinto 0.7 per cent and Capstone Copper 3.6 per cent.

Financials lagged on insurers as Steadfast dived 10.5 per cent, Insurance Australia Group 5.9 per cent, QBE 3.9 per cent, and Suncorp 3.3 per cent. The drop followed US insurance broker stocks falling on the launch of an AI tool from Insurify, which sparked fears about the industry facing disruption.

Elsewhere, Macquarie Group firmed 0.9 per cent after the investment bank reported higher profits across its four business divisions for the December quarter and signalled its flagship commodities and global markets unit would post improved annual income.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, Childcare operator G8 Education plunged 18.7 per cent after flagging a $350 million non-cash goodwill impairment, scrapping its final dividend and pausing its on-market share buyback amid weaker occupancy and rising costs.

Treasury Wine Estates jumped 4.8 per cent after its updated first-half EBITS guidance of $236 million exceeded prior guidance of $225 to $235 million. It also settled a long-running dispute in the US from Republic National Distribution Company shutting down its operations.

Electro Optic Systems surged 9.3 per cent as it resumed trading following a report by short-seller Grizzly Research, calling the conclusions misleading, manipulative, and pejorative.

Amplitude Energy tumbled 20.3 per cent after the junior gas player said its Elanora-1 exploration well off the Victorian coast had found water rather than gas.

Region Group gained 2.6 per cent as it upgraded its earnings full-year outlook and raised its forecast funds from operations to 16¢ per security from 15.9¢, implying 3.2 per cent growth on last year.

DroneShield jumped 6 per cent as the anti-drone technology provider appointed former Thales Australia and Knorr-Bremse executive Michael Powell as chief operating officer.