Australian shares rose on Friday, lifted by mining stocks as iron ore prices in China climbed despite fresh COVID-19 curbs in Asia’s largest economy.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose about 0.8% to 6,704, after adding 0.8% on Thursday.
For the week so far, it is up 2.5%. Earlier this week, minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s June meeting showed that while the central bank was keen to get prices under control, it also saw the risk of hikes having a “larger-than-anticipated” impact on growth.
On Friday, the Australian mining index jumped as much as 3.2%, eyeing its first weekly rise after four straight weekly losses.
Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals, and BHP Group rose 2.4%-3.7%. Energy stocks climbed 2.9%, after Brent crude prices rebounded from losses in the previous session when investors shifted their focus on a global demand crunch.
Index majors like Woodside Energy and Santos strengthened 3.4% and 3.1%, respectively.
Financials were up 0.2% although three out of the “Big Four” banks dropped in the range of 0.1% and 0.3% The domestic technology index tracked peers on the Nasdaq Composite Index on Wall Street overnight, rising about 1.1%.
Miners lift Australian shares, but recession fears linger
Xero Ltd and Computershare Ltd firmed 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively Among individual shares, Vulcan Energy Resources jumped as much as 11.4%, after signing a deal with the renewable energy arm of Italian electricity producer Enel SpA In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose about 0.5% to 11,165.7 points.
A Reuters poll indicated that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand could deliver a third successive rate hike to control elevated price pressures.
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