Australian shares climb as banks, gold stocks shine

Australian shares climbed on Friday as gains in banks and gold stocks outweighed losses in miners, while risk appetite improved after US President Donald Trump pledged to halt attacks on Iran ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.5% to 8,699.80 points by 2340 GMT after a 0.8% fall on Thursday.

The index has gained 0.2% so far this week. Hopes of a de-escalation in the Middle East conflict grew after Trump said the United States had held productive talks with Iran.

Still, gains were capped as investors remained wary of elevated oil prices and Australian government bond yields, which have climbed to multi-year highs during a persistent global bond selloff.

Financials gained more than 1% and were on course for their best day in three weeks, with the “Big Four” banks each rising over 1%. For the week, the sub-index has risen 0.5%, set for its second straight weekly gain.

Gold stocks rose 1% on firmer bullion prices.

Technology stocks climbed more than 1%, but were down over 3% so far this week, heading for their seventh weekly decline in eight weeks.

In corporate news, data centre operator Firmus, backed by Nvidia, shelved its $5 billion initial public offering plan, citing market volatility and conditions.

The proposed IPO would have been Australia’s largest new share sale in nearly three decades, behind only top telco Telstra’s roughly $10 billion float in 1997.

Limiting the benchmark index’s gains, miners fell nearly 1%, with BHP Group down 1%.

The sub-index has declined 1.7% so far this week, set for its sixth consecutive weekly fall. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was steady at 13,680.54 points.