The S&P/ASX200 edged 6.4 points higher on Monday, up 0.07 per cent, to 8,953.3, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 5.3 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 9,174.
The modest uptick came despite discouraging news from southwest Asia and signs of deadlock between the US and Iran, as each escalated their respective blockades of the Hormuz Strait.
"Things in the Middle East don't look particularly flash if you take what's happening at the surface level on face value, but I think there's a lot of headline fatigue also," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told AAP.
"We're just going to muddle through until we get to the point where something breaks, in terms of the data or the stalemate is broken, and I'm not sure what breaks first."
Energy stocks weighed heavily, dropping three per cent in a broad sector sell-off, despite conflict concerns putting upward pressure on oil prices.
Woodside and Santos, along with coal and uranium producers, all sold off.
Viva Energy tumbled nine per cent after coming out of a trading halt following a fire at its Geelong refinery the week before.
The facility will be back up to 90 per cent of regular production capacity for jet fuel, diesel and petrol within a few weeks, the company said.
NAB and Worley trimmed their earnings outlooks due to Persian Gulf conflict impacts on fuel and transport costs, dragging their share prices more than three and five per cent lower respectively.
Logistics provider Qube flagged an up-to $30 million earnings hit for the current financial year, but its share price was unscathed to end the session flat.
Consumer-facing sectors outperformed the market, with discretionaries and staples up more than 1.4 per cent each, thanks in part to rebounds in segment giants Wesfarmers, Woolworths and Coles.
The heavyweight financials sector crept 0.1 per cent lower, as NAB's tumble counterbalanced decent gains from CommBank and Westpac, which each improved by more than 0.7 per cent.
The raw materials sector traded roughly flat as mega miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue posted modest share price drops.
Gold producers were broadly higher, despite the precious metal easing to $US4,790 ($A6,702) an ounce during the session.
In company news, Monash IVF shares dropped 5.9 per cent after it knocked back a takeover offer from a consortium including Genesis Capital Investment Management and Washington H. Soul Pattinson Holdings.
Bourse operator ASX slipped 0.5 per cent to $58.77 as the first release of its updated clearance system went live.
Zip Co was the best performer of the top-200, rallying for a second session after Friday's guidance upgrade and strong transaction growth in the US.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.56 US cents, down from 71.63 US cents on Friday at 5pm, after briefly spiking above 72 US cents for the first time in nearly four years over the weekend.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 rose 6.1 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 8,953.3.
* The broader All Ordinaries gained 5.4 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 9,174.1.
One Australian dollar trades for:
* 71.56 US cents, from 71.63 US cents at 5pm AEST on Friday.
* 113.68 Japanese yen, from 114.17 Japanese yen.
* 60.82 euro cents, from 60.83 euro cents.
* 52.98 British pence, from 53.03 British pence.
* 121.81 NZ cents, from 121.76 NZ cents
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