The relatively mild 28-point move higher in the S&P/ASX 200 index to the day's high of 5785 points concealed some spicier action among the ASX's blue-chip names.

CSL, one of the outstanding performers on the bourse over the course of many years, dropped 1.5 per cent after the blood plasma giant reported good, but not good enough, annual profit figures. Online job classifieds business Seek lost 3.2 per cent on its earnings result, as the popular stock failed to live up to expectations.

Also weighing on the sharemarket was a 1.7 per cent drop in CBA and a 3.8 per cent fall in Suncorp, as both traded without the right to their respective upcoming dividends.

Two of the day's winners from the day's reporters were in the oil and gas sector, with Origin Energy adding 5.4 per cent and Woodside Petroleum 2.6 per cent. Origin managed to climb as investors shrugged off a $2.2 billion net loss, driven by well-flagged $3.1 billion in writedowns, mostly related to the value of its liquefied natural gas project. Those two results helped make energy the best performing sector on the ASX.

Also helping buoy the market on Wednesday were two other bluechips, Telstra and QBE, which lifted in the vicinity of 2 per cent ahead of their own profit releases on Thursday.

A fourth straight session of losses for Chinese iron ore futures made for subdued trading in Rio Tinto, which shed 0.1 per cent, while Fortescue Metals managed to climb 0.7 per cent. BHP Billiton added 0.2 per cent amid gains in the price of crude oil through Wednesday's session.

Investors pushed Iluka Resources 1.1 per cent higher despite news emerging that the miner had uncovered evidence of bribery related to an acquisition it had made in Sierra Leone.

Among the day's best was Domino's Pizza Enterprises, which bounced 7.2 per cent to claw back some of its heavy losses the day prior, even as analysts downgraded the stock and slashed their share price targets.

Stock Watch: Seek

Seek was the latest highly priced growth stock to tumble following an underwhelming earnings report. A day after Domino's was punished badly, short sellers had their next field day, pulling the online job-search company's shares down as much as 8.2 per cent before clawing back some losses to close 3.2 per cent lower at $17.26. Full-year profit of $220.8 million - excluding significant items such as restructuring costs - matched guidance, but still failed to impress investors, largely due to the company's forward looking estimates that saw costs rising faster than revenue. Total revenue from ordinary activities for the year to June 30 was up 9 per cent to $1.06 billion. And the company's fully franked final dividend rose 2?? to 21??, brining the full-year payout to 44??.

Market movers

Wages

Wages aren't going anywhere, edging up at a snail's pace of 0.5 per cent over the second quarter and 1.9 per cent over the year. And once again it's the public sector that's doing most of the heavy lifting, with private sector wages rising just 0.4 per cent over the quarter. Economists are generally taking that as support to the idea that rates aren't going anywhere. "On its own, the wages outlook suggests that the RBA remains on hold for some time," said ANZ's Felicity Emmett, adding that she expects any recovery in wages to be gradual given the amount of spare capacity in the labour market

Zinc

The zinc price hit its highest in almost a decade, as Chinese infrastructure demand that has fed a rally in steel prices for months spills into markets for steelmaking raw materials. LME zinc peaked at $US2990 a tonne, taking prices back to their most expensive since October 2007. The rally in zinc, used for galvanising steel, comes as China steps up plans to develop infrastructure while capacity cuts in its steel industry reform boost prices. "There (was) a fair level of scepticism at the start of the year when China's infrastructure projects were announced but we're seeing much better-than-expected growth in fixed asset investment," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes.

NZX

While the ASX 200 remains stuck below 6000 points, New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index continues to outperform, hitting a new record high of 7853.9 on Wednesday. The The NZX is up 14 per cent this year, outclassing the ASX's 2 per cent gain and despite the local economy's prospects starting to look a bit more promising than New Zealand's. Leading the kiwi index higher this year have been A2Milk, with a jump of 136 per cent, followed by Xero, up 54 per cent, and Air New Zealand, up 50 per cent. Among the few laggards are Sky Network TV and Fletcher Building, down 30 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.

Iron ore

Iron ore in the $US70s a tonne may be as good as it gets for some time. After rallying hard in June and July, the commodity is expected to see its gains unravel over the second half as steel production in China eases back from a record pace just as global miners pump up volumes. "There was some fundamental support for iron ore's rally, namely strong growth in China's steel output," Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics, said. "Stocks at China's ports are now stubbornly high and if, as seems likely, steel production and demand eases back later in the year, then we see iron ore prices coming under renewed pressure."