The ASX closed down 0.04% on the second last trading day of 2024, losing three points to drop down to 8,221 as slow trade and profit-taking raked markets.

The last full day of trading (remember, New Year’s Eve will see the Aussie bourse close several hours early) was awash with red – only two of the 11 sectors on the ASX managed to stay positively green in any real way.

Those two up sectors were Energy, up 1.12% at close, and Healthcare, up 0.09%, the latter of which was buoyed by Proteomics International (ASX:PIQ) and its 22.3% rocket up.

Real Estate had the biggest dip through today, shedding 1.79%. It was followed by Financials, down 0.51% after the big four banks dropped slightly, and Utilities, dragged down 0.42% by APA Group (ASX:APA) and Origin (ASX:ORG).

Discretionary (down 0.36%) had another dip too after all the Chrissy shopping.

Maximus Resources (ASX:MXR) was among Monday’s biggest winners with a 31.3% rise sparked by Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) throwing a seven-cent-a-share takeover bid at its WA gold mining neighbour. (Astral lost 6.7% the other way.)

Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) and Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR) both gained today too, up 0.84% and 3.8% respectively after crude oil prices bumped up to start the week.

Also among the big winners was coal maker Bowen Coking Coal (ASX:BCB), up 29%.

Several property companies were left hurting by Real Estates’ overall drop, with Goodman Group (ASX:GMG), down 1.4%, GPT Group (ASX:GPT), down 3.89%, and Dexus (ASX:DXS), down 3.7%, the biggest losers there.

Transurban (ASX:TCL) was also in the red after trading ex-dividend; it dropped 1.9%.

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