Australia's share market has finished the day roughly flat, despite trade concerns for BHP weighing heavily on the raw materials sector.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 3.1 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 8,845.7, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 0.7 of a point, up 0.01 per cent to close at 9,136.6.
The two indices seesawed in a choppy trading session, as investors weighed reports of a halt to BHP's China-bound iron ore shipments and a US government shutdown.
"The ASX-200 dropped about 39 points to that low of 8809 and there was a great deal of anticipation ahead of the shutdown and with the BHP news," IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.
"But it might have been a bit of a 'buy the rumour, sell the fact' situation in our market because from there we saw a pretty solid bounce, which started right around 2pm when the US government went into shutdown."
Five of 11 local sectors traded lower on Wednesday, as materials and consumer discretionary stocks fell more than 0.7 per cent.
BHP shares tumbled 2.3 per cent during the session to $41.56, wiping more than $5 billion from the world's biggest miner's $216 billion market cap.
Fellow iron ore giants Rio Tinto (+0.5 per cent) and Fortescue (+1.4 per cent) pushed higher over the session.
Gold miners were mixed, despite the precious metal resetting its record to trade above $US3,875 ($A5,865) an ounce.
The financials sector finished slightly higher after spending most of the day in the red, as CBA and ANZ helped counterbalance losses for NAB and Westpac.
Utilities stocks performed well, pushing 0.8 per cent higher as AGL and Meridian Energy soared four per cent.
Other defensive sectors such as health care and communications services also supported the bourse, tracking with gains for their respective segment giants Telstra and CSL.
Droneshield outperformed the top-200 for a fourth straight session, rocketing 23 per cent higher.
Lithium plays were at the other end of the table, with Liontown plummeting more than 10 per cent and Pilbara Minerals losing more than six per cent.
Weakness in energy stocks continued, the sector fading 0.4 per cent as Woodside slipped 0.8 per cent but Santos edged 0.5 per cent higher.
Oil prices remain under pressure on expectations of OPEC+ production hikes in November, while natural gas futures have spiked to their highest level since late July on higher expected winter demand in the northern hemisphere.
Consumer discretionary stocks were also under pressure, fading 0.8 per cent as Bunnings owner Wesfarmers tumbled 1.3 per cent to $90.81.
The Australian dollar is buying 66.11 US cents, up from 66.01 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 fell 3.1 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 8,845.7
* The broader All Ordinaries rose 0.07 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 9,136.6
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar trades for:
* 66.11 US cents, from 65.99 US cents on Tuesday
* 97.30 Japanese yen, from 97.72 Japanese yen
* 56.16 euro cents, from 56.22 euro cents
* 49.08 British pence, from 49.10 British pence
* 113.78 NZ cents, from 113.83 NZ cents
