The Australian stock market experienced modest gains on Friday, building on the previous session's progress despite receiving mixed signals from Wall Street overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 index hovers just below the 8,000 mark, with a slight uptick driven by advancements in gold mining and financial sectors, which partially mitigated losses in the energy sector. Specifically, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 5.40 points, or 0.07%, to reach 7,987.80, after earlier touching an intraday high of 8,002.50. The broader All Ordinaries Index rose by 4.00 points, or 0.05%, to settle at 8,191.70. The Australian markets had concluded Thursday's session with modest gains.
In the mining sector, BHP Group and Rio Tinto both experienced minor declines of 0.1%, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals posted small gains ranging from 0.1% to 0.5%.
The energy sector faced losses, with Woodside Energy falling by more than 1%, Santos dipping 0.3%, and Beach Energy dropping nearly 2%. In contrast, Origin Energy managed a gain of over 1%.
Tech stocks presented a mixed picture: Block (owner of Afterpay) edged up by 0.3%, and Zip saw an almost 1% increase. However, WiseTech Global slipped by 0.1%, Xero lost nearly 1%, and Appen declined by almost 2%.
Among Australia's major banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, and Westpac all gained approximately 1% each, while National Australia Bank edged up by 0.4%. Gold miners showed general strength, with Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources each rising by nearly 1%. Newmont and Gold Road Resources edged up by 0.3% each, and Resolute Mining added more than 1%.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar was trading at $0.673 on Friday.
Turning to the United States, Wall Street had a mixed trading session on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell for the third consecutive session, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished in positive territory. The Nasdaq fluctuated across the unchanged line before closing up by 43.37 points, or 0.3%, at 17,127.66. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 declined by 16.66 points, or 0.3%, to 5,503.41, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid by 219.22 points, or 0.5%, to 40,755.75.
In Europe, major markets finished lower: France's CAC 40 Index dropped by 0.9%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3%, and Germany's DAX Index edged down by 0.1%.
Crude oil prices declined on Thursday amid concerns over demand outlook, although losses were curtailed by reports of OPEC delaying plans to increase production next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude for October settled down by $0.05, ending at $69.15 per barrel, marking the lowest settlement in about nine months.
