Australian shares on track for red week as miners weigh
Adrian Black |
Australia’s share market is on track to end the week in the red, as profit taking in gold and copper miners drags on the bourse.
The S&P/ASX200 edged three points lower on Friday, down 0.03 per cent, to 3.3, as the broader All Ordinaries fell 3.3 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 9,273.3.
The top-200 is down about 0.4 per cent since Monday and will likely snap a two-week winning streak.
Friday’s dip followed a weak session on Wall Street, as investors de-risked ahead of incoming quarterly earnings and as the Middle East peace deal weighed on gold and oil prices.
“Attention now turns to US financial heavyweights as the third-quarter earnings season properly begins next week,” Moomoo dealings manager Jimmy Tran said.
“Major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and Citigroup, will report, serving as a key indicator of economic momentum.”
Only three of 11 local sectors were clearly in the red by lunchtime, but raw materials – which has largely carried the bourse or capped its losses since Monday – tumbled 1.3 per cent as gold and copper eased from recent highs.
Spot gold has rolled back about 1.5 per cent to $US3,991 ($A6,086) an ounce, battering listed miners such as Northern Star (-3.2 per cent, Evolution (-2.7 per cent) and Newmont (-2.1 per cent).
Large cap miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue each bled more than 1.2 per cent lower despite an uptick in iron ore prices on Thursday, as copper’s recent rally ran out of steam.
The financials sector helped limit losses elsewhere, up 0.4 per cent, tracking with the minimum gain for the big four banks, as CBA traded at $168.51 a share.
Energy stocks tumbled 0.9 per cent as oil prices faded on the peace deal in Gaza, weighing on Woodside and Santos.
Whitehaven Coal and Yancoal were also down in early trade, despite a Queensland government plan to extend some of its coal-fired power stations into the 2050s, scrapping plans for a 2035 end date.
Australian tech was the best performing sector, rebounding 0.9 per cent and on-track to for its first positive session for the week, as Life360, NextDC and Technology One led the way.
Health care stocks were also in positive territory, up 0.7 per cent and tracking with a strong sector performance on Wall Street overnight.
Consumer discretionary stocks also recovered 0.5 per cent after shedding more than three per cent between Monday and Wednesday.
The Australian dollar is buying 65.66 US cents, down from 66.03 US cents on Thursday at 5pm, after political issues in France and Japan helped drive a resurgence in the greenback during the week.
AAP
