Australian shares were on track to mark their worst week in 19 months on Friday, with banking stocks leading the declines as the country’s central bank hiked interest rates by the most in more than two decades in a move to tame surging inflation.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.9% at 6,959.90 by 0040 GMT, set for its worst week since October 30, 2020, if losses hold. The benchmark is on track to retreat 3.9% this week.
In other key markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.3% at 27,886.30 and S&P 500 E-minis futures edged 0.1% higher.
Back home, financials rose 0.6%, although the sub-index slipped 7% for the week, its worst since March 20, 2020.
Three of the “Big Four” banks were up between 1.3% and 1.6% on Friday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s 50-basis-point hike on Tuesday dragged the banks down this week, raising concerns about the housing market. The real estate index dropped 1.4% to hit over a year low.
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Miners sank 3%, on track for their worst day since a month as iron ore prices slipped on worries about weak profits at Chinese steel mills and fresh COVID-19 alerts in Shanghai and Beijing.
BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group fell between 2.8% and 4.9%.
Weak oil prices weighed on energy stocks that were down 2.1%, but the sub-index recorded a third straight week of gains.
Woodside Energy Group and Santos lost 2% and 1.5%, respectively.
eparately, AGL Energy, fell up to 2.6% as it expected a unit down since April at one of its power stations to restart in late September, more than a month later than earlier flagged, worsening the country’s power crisis.
Domestic technology stocks tracked Wall Street’s sharp selloff ahead of US consumer price data, sliding 2.5% to mark its worst week in nearly a month.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index declined 1.2% to 11,080.56.
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