Australia: Shares fall but set for best week in nearly 2 years

AUSTRALIAN shares slipped on Friday, with all sectors but energy trading in negative territory, weighed down by recession fears as US Federal Reserve officials showed little sign of slowing interest rate hikes.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.71 per cent to 6,769.1 by 0013 GMT, but was on track to post its biggest weekly gain in nearly two years. The benchmark had closed flat on Thursday.

Stock markets across the globe have been on edge as Fed officials have dashed hopes for a pivot from a steady stream of rate hikes to fight inflation.

Investors are now looking to the US jobs report and non-farm payrolls numbers for some clarity as to whether a steady diet of aggressive rate hikes has begun to take a bite out of the economy and soaring inflation. In

Australia, financials fell 1.1 per cent, with the “big four” banks shedding about 1 per cent each. Interest rate-sensitive technology stocks slipped 1.1 per cent after a sell-off on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Software firm Novonix tumbled 2.4 per cent and Megaport slipped 3 per cent.

Energy stocks jumped 1.2 per cent, as oil prices rose overnight after Opec+ agreed to tighten global supply with a deal to cut production targets by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) – the largest reduction since 2020.

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Australia: Shares close flat as two-day rally fizzles out

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Woodside Energy and Santos advanced 2.2 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively.

Among individual stocks, Allkem rose 4.2 per cent after the International Finance Corporation agreed to lend the lithium miner US$200 million to finance a battery-grade lithium carbonate project in Argentina.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.26 per cent to 11,095.8. REUTERS