The Australian market has finished trading slightly higher, with the surging share price of Fortescue Metals and other miners offset by losses across the major banks.

The ASX 200 gained 0.2 per cent to close at 7,505 points.

It briefly dipped into the red in early trade, but managed to recover from those losses after midday.

Some of today's best-performing stocks were Polynovo (+7.5pc), Pilbara Minerals (+6.3pc), South32 (+6.2pc), Iluka Resources (+5.9pc), along with BHP (+2.5pc) and Rio Tinto (+3.1pc).

Shares in InvoCare soared 8.7 per cent (to $12.15) after the company reported a half-year profit of $44 million — a huge improvement over its $18 million loss, for the same period last year.

However, the funeral services provider was unable to provide an earnings forecast, citing the uncertainty caused by the rapidly spreading Delta variant and limits on the size of funerals.

On the flip side, Healius (-7.3pc), Altium (-14.3pc), Nuix (-10.8pc), Hub24 (-5.8pc), Wesfarmers (-3.2pc) and AGL Energy (-4.1pc) suffered heavy losses.

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However, the 'big four' banks Westpac (-0.7pc), ANZ (-1.1pc), Commonwealth Bank (-1.1pc) and NAB (-0.4pc) were the biggest drags on the market.

"Banks are down due to rising double dip recession fears with delta waves as well as global investors selling due to currency risk, " said Mathan Somasundaram, chief executive officer at DeepData Analytics.

"Tapering uncertainty is going to rise through to September US Fed meeting."

Aussie dollar slips on 'bearish' bets 

By 5:00pm AEST, the Australian dollar had slipped to 72.9 US cents (down 0.3 per cent).

But that was after the local currency had jumped 1 per cent over the weekend (due to a weaker greenback), following a highly-anticipated speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Friday.

Mr Powell said the US central bank was in no rush to tighten monetary policy but that it could start cutting its asset purchase program "this year" if America's economic recovery goes well.

"We expect the Australian dollar to resume its downtrend this week," said CBA currency strategist Joseph Capurso.

"FOMC [US Federal Open Markets Committee] tapering, weakening Chinese economic growth, a negative Australia-US bond spread and falling commodity prices remain weights on the Australian dollar.

He said CBA now expects the nation's GDP to shrink by 4.5 per cent in the September quarter, and that the Reserve Bank is likely to "delay tapering asset purchases at its policy meeting next week".

Fortescue posts record profit and dividend

Fortescue Metals has reported its highest-ever annual profit and dividend after shipping a record amount of iron ore to take advantage of soaring prices.

Its share price jumped to $21.32 (after rising 6.6 per cent) on Monday.

The world's fourth-largest iron ore miner said its full-year profit surged to $14 billion ($US10.3b), an increase of 117 per cent since last year.

In May, the price of the steelmaking material hit a record-high $US233 per tonne — on the back of resilient demand from China, the top consumer, and supply issues in Brazil (one of the biggest iron ore suppliers in the world).

However, prices have fallen sharply since then to around $US158 a tonne, as China declared a tougher stance on emissions reduction and a resurgence of output in Brazil.

"We fear the peak has passed, the iron ore price cycle and by extension the earnings and share price cycles are also ... lower over time," said analyst Peter O'Connor of Shaw and Partners.

"Time to think seriously about recycling some FMG [Fortescue] capital into other value opportunities."

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Fortescue will pay a final dividend of $2.11 per share, up from $1 a share last year. This brings its total dividend for the year $11 billion (or to $3.58 per share).

The final dividend will add about $2.4 billion to the wealth of the company's chairman and biggest shareholder Andrew Forrest, who is Australia's richest man.

The miner shipped 182.2 million tonnes of iron ore in the 2020-21 fiscal year. and expects as much as 185 Mt to go out in the current financial year.

Crown swings to massive loss

Lockdowns and regulatory costs have pushed Crown Resorts to a full-year loss of $261.6 million. It was a significant downgrade from last year's profit of $79.5 million.

The company also confirmed it was no longer talking to Oaktree Capital — about the private equity giant's proposal to buy a stake in the casino operator.

Crown shares slipped 0.1 per cent (to $9.31).

The casino group is grappling with a series of challenges, ranging from virus-led lockdowns to regulatory scrutiny that has cost its Sydney casino its licence and threatened the ones at Melbourne and Perth.

Travel restrictions in the country have also made it difficult for overseas gamblers, especially from China, to visit its casinos and spend more.

"Looking ahead, COVID-19 continues to create uncertainty, with variable operating restrictions remaining a feature of everyday life and likely to continue to materially influence business performance," said interim chairwoman Jane Halton.

Crown has also been under intense regulatory scrutiny as it tries to convince authorities that it can rebuild its culture after a Sydney inquiry in February found the company allowed money laundering on its premises for years.

An inquiry into its Melbourne casino — which generates three-quarters of its profit — will end in October, while a separate one into its Perth casino has been extended to March 2022.

The uncertainty caused rival casino operator Star Entertainment, in July, to withdraw its $9 billion buyout proposal.

A separate $3 billion Oaktree proposal was also pitched as an option to bankroll a buyout of a part of billionaire James Packer's stake.

ABC/Reuters