Thank goodness for the various misdeeds of the big four consulting and accounting firms, because otherwise today's blog would have been very dull.

The ASX 200 ended the day the same way it started it, closing with a 0.1% loss for the two major indices.

On the ASX 200 index, 99 companies gained ground, compared to 91 in the red, but solid falls for the mining heavyweights more than offset gains elsewhere.

Education, consumer cyclicals and financials led those sectors going up, but couldn't outweigh falls for consumer non-cyclicals, mining and energy.

Hotels and liquor company Endeavour Group, spun out of Woolworths several years back, was by far the biggest loser.

Surprise Victorian poker machine restrictions saw it slump 9.9% to $5.64 by the close, highlighting just how reliant the sector is on gaming for its profitability.

A number of smaller resources firms, including Sayona Mining (-7.9%), IGO Ltd (-4.5%), Core Lithium (-4.1%) and Syrah Resources (-3.8%) rounded out the top five declines.

The biggest gainers were Medibank Private (+3.6%), Polynovo (+2.8%), Credit Corp (+2.8%), TechnologyOne (+2.8%) and Whitehaven Coal (+2.7%).

I will be off now, but you'll be in the very capable hands of Sue Lannin tomorrow.