SYDNEY: Australian shares rose on Friday, as miners and banks led a broad-based rally, but that was not enough to prevent the worst week in more than three months after a brutal global sell-off at the start of the week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1.3% higher at 7,777.7 points on the day. The index slid 2.1% for the week, its biggest weekly loss since mid-April.
Most of that was due to a 3.7% plunge on Monday after a bleak US nonfarm payrolls report sparked fears of a recession in the country, triggering a global sell-off. However, that was short-lived as comments by US central bank officials and a benign US jobless claims report on Thursday calmed nerves.
Nonetheless, the recovery over the latter half of the week was not enough to outweigh the plunge on Monday.
“Today’s market move is just a function of the week that was,” said John Lockton, head of investment strategy at Sandstone Insights.
“There are signs that US equity markets are stabilizing and the view that we’re not going into recession is permeating. So, investors are going back in with more confidence that the price action was a bit unjustified.”
Mining stocks climbed 2%, with BHP Group and Rio Tinto rising 1.6% and 2%, respectively. The sub-index, however, dropped 2.6% in its fifth straight weekly fall.
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