Australian shares slipped 38 points, or 0.4%, to 8,648 in early trade on Friday, extending the previous session’s weakness as U.S. equity futures eased following an overnight sell-off in major Wall Street tech stocks. Investor sentiment was further dampened by the lack of progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks.
The local market is on course for its first weekly loss in three weeks, down about 1% so far, with caution rising ahead of the Reserve Bank’s policy decision later this month. Inflation remained elevated at 4.2% in April, above the RBA’s 2–3% target band, while GDP growth slowed sharply in the first quarter.
Some of the losses were cushioned by April trade figures, which showed Australia returning to a surplus, supported by a rebound in exports and softer imports. Sectoral weakness was most pronounced in non-energy minerals, energy minerals, and consumer non-durables. Major decliners included BHP Group (-2.3%), PLS Group (-3.0%), South32 Ltd. (-2.7%), and Evolution Mining (-2.0%), while the four big banks also fell between 0.5% and 0.9%.
