ASX gains, with all sectors in green
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended the week higher, following a rebound on Wall Street.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 finished up 0.55% to 7,629, with all 11 sectors finishing in green.
The best performing sector was consumer discretionary, up 1.99%, followed by real estate (+1.55%) and IT (+1.2%). Wesfarmers (+2.95%) and Aristocrat Leisure (+2.28%) led consumer discretionary gains as investors cheered the former’s strategy day held on Thursday.
Afterpay parent Block, up 9.78%, was the best-performing stock across the ASX 200 after it lifted its forecast following better-than-expected first-quarter results and revealed plans to add more Bitcoin to its balance sheet.
On tech, the three largest companies Wisetech (+1.46%), Xero (+1.39%) and NextDC (+2.03%) all finished higher, while Apple surged in after-hours trading following its March quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations.
The worst-performing sector was materials, up 0.18%, followed by financials (+0.3%) and consumer staples (+0.35%).
Gold stocks were also among the worst performers after the commodity approached its first back-to-back weekly loss in over two months. Evolution Mining (-5.57%), Bellevue Gold (-2.87%), Regis Resources (-2.39%), Ramelius Resources (-1.91%) and Red 5 (-1.75%) all fell.
Mining giant BHP finished 0.07% higher as Swiss commodities group Glencore reportedly considers its own takeover bid for Anglo American.
Macquarie was the worst performer across the large financials, down 2.38%, after posting a 32% net profit drop for FY24 which was marginally lower than market consensus.
The big four banks, however, all gained with Westpac up 1.65%, followed by ANZ (1.17%), NAB (0.64%) and Commonwealth Bank (0.1%). Despite NAB delivering a solid half-year result on Thursday, analysts were mixed in their reaction, with some maintaining their ‘sell’ rating while others are sticking to ‘buy’.
Meanwhile, the takeover tussle for Namoi Cotton continues as its second-largest shareholder Louis Dreyfus Company has said it will not accept the revised takeover offer by Olam Agri which was backed by Namoi’s largest shareholder.
The Australian dollar is higher, buying 65.73 US cents.
The context: Tonight, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the latest unemployment rate for the country.
All eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of Australia next week as it makes its next monetary policy decision.
Next week will also see big banks Westpac, ANZ and CBA post quarterly earnings. Offshore, Disney and Uber are also set to post earnings, while the Bank of England makes its latest interest rate decision.
