The local market pipped expectations of a sharp fall on Tuesday, finishing the day up 0.35 per cent at 7273 points after a brief 0.7 per cent dip earlier in the day. Gains were helped along by a near 10 per cent spike in energy infrastructure operator AusNet after a bidding war erupted for the business.

The local market pipped expectations of a sharp fall on Tuesday, finishing the day up 0.35 per cent at 7273 points after a brief 0.7 per cent dip earlier in the day.

This was despite futures pointing to a 1.4 per cent fall after market open thanks to a weak lead from Wall Street overnight, with the Dow dropping 1.8%, S&P 500 closing 1.7% lower and the Nasdaq falling 2.2%.

Investors had been spooked by the stability of Chinese real estate behemoth Evergrande and its ability to make good on over $400 billion in debt liabilities, with concerns the company’s potential defaulting on billions in loans could cause a domino effect within China’s economy and send global markets into a tailspin.

It was expected these worries would infect the Australian market on Tuesday, but this did not eventuate, thanks largely to a strong showing by the energy, IT, and consumer discretionary sectors. The finance sector was the only one to finish in the red on Tuesday.

Miners and resource companies also reported strong gains on Tuesday, with Whitehaven Coal and Champion Iron were among the best performers for the session.

However, the day’s best performer was energy infrastructure business AusNet, which saw shares gain 9.75 per cent after it knocked back a fresh takeover bid for the company from rival APA Group.

Senior investment advisor at Shaw & Partners, Adam Dawes, said the strength in the resources sector was indicative of investors “dipping their toes back in” after iron ore prices fell below $US100 a tonne yesterday.

However, he warned the local bourse was likely still in for a tough month.

“September is book ended by reporting season in August and then AGM season in October, so it’s a bit of a void for news and other things like that,” he said. “So I think September will continue to be weak...but it’s good to see our resource stocks getting a bit of a bid, which is certainly helping market confidence.“

Oscar Oberg, fund manager at Wilson Asset Management, agreed that investors could expect to see a rocky time over the next few days, though wasn’t convinced the worries over Evergrande’s collapse would have any serious impact on the local market.

“If we look at it from Australia’s perspective, you have New South Wales about to open up soon, and Victoria and other states will follow, which should be a pretty good environment for the market and economic growth,” he said.

“So I think the market will look through this as it has for many other things since COVID. I’m not convinced it’s a Lehman Brothers moment.“

After market close, US futures were pointing to gains across the board of between 0.5 and 0.7 per cent as reactions to the potential Evergrande crisis moderated.