Australian shares inched lower on Friday, extending losses for a fourth session, as strong US economic data stoked fears that the Federal Reserve would deliver another rate hike to control sticky inflation.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.1% at 7,161.00, as of 0026 GMT, declining 1.8% so far in the week.
Data released overnight showed that the number of jobless claims in the United States fell unexpectedly last week to the lowest level since February, indicating that the country’s jobs market was still very tight and the economy was resilient.
Meanwhile, data out of China showed another monthly decline in imports and exports, albeit less steep than expected, weighing heavily on regional commodity stocks.
In Sydney, energy stocks slumped almost 1%, hitting the week’s lowest level, after oil prices fell overnight on signs of weaker demand in the coming months.
Woodside Energy fell 1.3%, while Santos dropped 0.4%. Miners declined 0.8%, extending falls to a fourth session.
The sub-index has fallen 2.9% so far in the week.
Iron ore prices fell on Thursday following gains earlier this week, as weak China trade data weighed on investor sentiment.
Rio Tinto and BHP Group lost 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively, on Friday.
Gold stocks rose 0.5% after a three-day slide and were the only gainers on the benchmark.
Newcrest Mining advanced 0.6%, while Northern Star Resources rose 0.4%.
In corporate news, Telstra Group said it was bidding for cloud consulting company Versent, confirming a report by the Australian Financial Review.
Shares of the country’s biggest telecom firm fell 0.1%.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.2% to 11,396.81 and was on track for a sixth straight session of losses.
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