Australian shares fell on Friday, dragged down by real estate and consumer stocks, after stronger-than-expected May retail sales growth strengthened the case for another rate hike.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.2% to 7,178.0 by 0030 GMT in lacklustre trading.
The benchmark ended flat on Thursday.
Australian retail spending rebounded last month as consumers were tempted by online sales events and promotional discounting, a sign of resilience in consumption. Consumer stocks fell 0.6%, with Woolworths and Coles dropping 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.
Heavyweight financials slipped 0.2%, with National Australia Bank down 0.3%.
Real estate stocks fell more than 1%, with Goodman Group and Mirvac Group shedding 1.2% and 1.1%, respectively. Healthcare and technology stocks fell 0.3% each.
Miners were the top gainers on the benchmark, rising 0.1% after iron ore prices jumped to a 15-week high on Thursday.
Mining behemoths BHP Group and Rio Tinto gained 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.
Gold stocks rose 0.5% on steady bullion prices.
Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources gained 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively.
Australian shares snap 4-day losing streak as banks and miners gain
Energy stocks inched higher 0.1% on firmer crude oil prices.
Woodside Energy gained 0.2%, while Santos fell 0.1%.
Among individual stocks, Vulcan Energy Resources climbed 0.5% after the company promoted its deputy CEO as the top boss.
Bubs Australia dropped as much as 8.3% after the dairy firm cut its full-year revenue forecast for China operations on disappointing sales.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was flat at 11,803.1.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.