The Australian share market slipped on Friday as weakness in financials outweighed gains in the resources sector.
Market sentiment was dampened by the rollout of United States President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff regime, which came into force on Thursday.
The benchmark ASX 200 closed 24.3 points lower, down 0.3% at 8,807.1. Despite the day’s decline, the index still posted a 1.7% rise for the week.
The Healthcare and Financial sectors led declines, as CSL fell 1.8% and ProMedicus slid 3.6%, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank dropped 0.9% apiece, while Westpac slipped 1%.
QBE Insurance tumbled 8.8% after reporting its half-year results.
AMP bucked the trend, however, climbing 7.1% after a series of broker upgrades following its latest results.
Materials emerged as the strongest performing sector, buoyed by higher gold prices overnight.
The rally in bullion coincided with Trump’s appointment of a U.S. Federal Reserve governor to see out the rest of Adriana Kugler’s term after she resigned last week.
Newmont climbed 2.2%, Northern Star Resources jumped 4%, and Westgold Resources surged 6.2%.
Major miners also advanced, with BHP adding 0.9%, Rio Tinto lifting 1.1%, and Fortescue Metals gaining 1.8% after becoming the first Australian company to secure a 14.2 billion yuan (A$3 billion) syndicated term loan from China.
Among individual companies, Block closed up 9.4% as higher spending on its Afterpay platform lifted second-quarter profit and growth.
Iress surged 12.2% after confirming it had considered a takeover approach from New York-based private equity firm Blackstone.
Nick Scali soared 6.9% as investors looked past a FY25 profit slump, focusing instead on strong second-half trading in Australia and New Zealand and potential recovery in its struggling UK business.
GQG Partners sank 14.4% after reporting US$1.4 billion in July outflows, with $1 billion linked to a single institutional client.
On the bond markets, 10-year and 2-year rates were steady at 4.251% and 3.351%, respectively.
