Australia shares eye sixth weekly gain on iron ore rally, stimulus hopes

Australian shares dipped on Friday, as gold stocks and financials traded in the red, though the index was poised for a sixth weekly gain on an iron ore rally that set domestic miners on course to add about 3% for the week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.4 at 6,657.7 by 1255 GMT, but on track for a weekly gain of 0.4%.

Asian markets were wobbly as concerns about US stimulus and COVID-19 cases weighed globally on optimism. Attention on the stimulus grew sharper after data showed the number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits jumped to a near three-month high.

Back home, CSL was one of the top drags in the benchmark index after the Australian drugmaker halted its COVID-19 vaccine as trials showed it could interfere with HIV diagnosis, sending shares down 2%.

Shares of buy-now-pay-later firm Zip Co added 2.5% after it signed a deal with Facebook.

Financials, down as much as 0.9%, were the top losers of the day. The so-called "Big Four" banks shed between 0.7% and 1.2%.

An overnight drop in gold prices pushed the domestic gold index 0.6% lower. Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining, down 0.6% and 2.3% respectively, were among the top drags.

Bucking the sombre mood, miners have been trading in positive territory in the last eight sessions of nine on an iron ore rally fuelled by vaccine optimism.

The top percentage gainer in the sub-index and the benchmark was IGO Ltd with a gain of nearly 25%, after stock returned to trade for the first time since Monday, when it was announced it would take a stake in Greenbushes, the world's largest hard-rock lithium mine. Tech stocks climbed up to 1%.

Energy stocks rose 2% as vaccine optimism drove oil prices to their highest since March. Shares of Whitehaven Coal and Beach Energy, up about 6% and 5% respectively, gained the most.

In New Zealand, the benchmark was down 0.09% by 1221 GMT.