Australian shares were flat with positive bias on Thursday as the summit between the US and Chinese Presidents gets underway.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed to close at 8,640.70.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Beijing. Brent crude oil futures were trading around $105.89 per barrel. Gold fell as the hotter-than-expected US inflation data increased the chances of a tighter monetary policy in the US.
On the domestic front, Australia's household spending fell 1.2% in April, reversing a fuel-driven surge in March as lower spending on petrol and public transport weighed on transport and recreation spending, according to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Household Spending Insights.
"The oil shock resulting from the current Middle East conflict has not had the size of impact that was initially expected," the bank's head of Australian Economics, Belinda Allen, said.
In company news, Australia's Federal Court ruled Thursday that Coles Group (ASX:COL) deceived shoppers by advertising discounts on products that, in many cases, were being sold at higher prices. The case against Coles was brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2024, saying Coles increased prices on certain items for a very short period of time before putting them on a discount, making the promotions illusory in nature. Its shares fell 2% on market close.
Xero (ASX:XRO) reported Thursday that it swung to a loss of NZ$0.19 per share in the fiscal year 2026 from a profit of NZ$1.47 a year earlier. Total operating revenue for the 12 months ended March 31 was NZ$2.75 billion, compared with NZ$2.1 billion a year earlier. Its shares closed down 9%.
Lastly, Megaport (ASX:MP1) said its unit Latitude.sh has secured three major GPU, CPU, network, and storage contracts with a combined total contract value (TCV) of about AU$254 million and annualized recurring revenue (ARR) of about AU$90.6 million. Its shares were up 28% on market close.