The Australian sharemarket had a lacklustre start to the trading week as a slump in mining stocks offset gains by banks, tech and property stocks ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s long-awaited meeting with US President Donald Trump tonight.

The S&P/ASX 200 was largely flat at lunchtime, slipping 3.7 points to 8991.60 as of 12.20pm AEDT, weighed down by a 1.8 per cent fall for the mining sector. The lukewarm performance comes after the local bourse ended last week in the red , even after bets on interest rate cuts took it to a fresh record on Thursday.

The Australian dollar traded at US65.12¢ at 12.21pm AEDT.

The Australian sharemarket was treading water by Monday lunchtime. Credit: Louie Douvis

After their massive run-up in recent weeks, mining stocks traded firmly in th

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