On Friday, the Australian stock market experienced a reduction in early gains during mid-market trading, although it continued to build on the positive momentum from the previous two trading sessions, reflecting the generally positive trends seen on Wall Street overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 index has stayed decisively above the 8,500 mark, having reached all-time highs, with significant contributions from the mining and technology sectors. However, these advances are being somewhat counterbalanced by underperformance in the financial sector.
Specifically, the S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 32.90 points or 0.39 percent to 8,526.60, achieving an earlier peak at a record 8,566.90. Similarly, the All Ordinaries Index increased by 39.20 points or 0.44 percent to reach 8,785.10. This follows a notably strong performance by Australian stocks on Thursday.
In the mining sector, BHP Group is experiencing a gain of over 1 percent, Rio Tinto is up nearly 1 percent, and Fortescue Metals shows a modest increase of 0.4 percent, although Mineral Resources is down nearly 1 percent.
Oil stocks presented a mixed picture. Origin Energy saw a decline of nearly 6 percent, and Santos slightly decreased by 0.2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach Energy showed minor gains between 0.3 and 0.5 percent.
Technology stocks demonstrated strong performance, with WiseTech Global advancing nearly 1 percent, Xero growing by over 2 percent, and Zip increasing by more than 1 percent. Block, owner of Afterpay, is currently in a trading halt, while Appen has surged over 13 percent following positive quarterly results.
In the financial sector, among the "big four" banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac saw marginal declines of 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, ANZ Banking lost almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank had a slight rise of 0.1 percent. Most gold miners were on the rise; Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources each advanced nearly 3 percent, Resolute Mining grew by over 1 percent, and Newmont increased by nearly 4 percent. Gold Road Resources remained steady.
Regarding economic developments, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, final demand producer prices in Australia rose by 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, which fell short of the anticipated 1.0 percent rise and marked a decrease from 0.9 percent in the previous quarter. Annually, producer prices increased by 3.7 percent, down from 3.9 percent in the preceding quarter.
Additionally, the Reserve Bank of Australia noted a 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted increase in private sector credit for December, matching the previous month’s rate and surpassing expectations of a 0.5 percent rise. Yearly, private sector credit showed a growth rate of 8.6 percent.
On the currency front, the Australian dollar was trading at $0.621 on Friday.
