Australian shares closed higher on Friday to mark their fifth straight weekly gain, with investors shifting focus to next week’s events, which include the central bank’s decision and a slew of corporate earnings. The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.6% higher at 7,558.1 points.
For the week, the benchmark added 0.9%. The gains come after an upbeat start for Australian equities in 2023. The index logged its best January on record with a 6.2% gain and is inching towards an all-time high of 7,632.80 points hit on Aug. 13, 2021.
Looking ahead, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) policy meeting on Tuesday is in focus, where it is expected to deliver a quarter-point interest rate hike, as it grapples with an unexpected revival in inflation.
Corporate earnings will also kick off next week, with quarterly results from Macquarie Group and ANZ Group set to offer clues into the health of the economy. Financial stocks closed higher for the fifth week in row, up 0.6% during the week.
The so called “big four” lenders rose between 1.3% and 2.3% on Friday. “There’s a lot of optimism in the air on banks reporting some of its strongest earnings for a while,” Jessica Amir, market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets said.
Australian shares hit over 9-month closing high on gold, tech boost
“The market is starting to preempt that.” The export-reliant healthcare sub-index led gains with a 2.5% jump on Friday on a strong US dollar, with heavyweight CSL Ltd closing 3% higher. Technology stocks tracked its Wall Street peers higher, up 0.6%, with shares of Computershare Ltd and ASX-listed shares of Block Inc gaining 3.8% and 0.6% respectively.
Energy stocks climbed 0.5%, with Santos and Woodside Energy rising 0.9% and 0.7% respectively. Miners eased 1.6%. BHP Group, Rio Tinto dropped nearly 2% each and led the index to snap a four-week rally.
Gold stocks slumped 3.6% as a stronger dollar impacted bullion prices.
Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources were down 2.9% and 4%, respectively. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.4% higher at 12,197.15, up for a the fifth straight week.
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