Mining and tech lead Australian shares to 5 — week closing high
Miners rise 3.3%, but down for seventh week Tech stocks rebound; WiseTech jumps 9% Banks ease after Thursday's rally (Updates to close) By Nichiket Sunil and Shravya Marakini Oct 16 (Reuters) — Australian shares posted their highest close in 5 weeks on Friday, as easing concerns over a global equity selloff sparked buying in mining and technology stocks, while banks notched their strongest weekly gain in six months. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1% to 8,806.70, its highest close since September 10. The benchmark gained 1% this week, its best performance since early August. Asian technology stocks stabilised after a recent selloff, as concerns over CoreWeave's debt burden eased, with upbeat earnings and resilient demand for semiconductors helping reinforce confidence in the sector's fundamentals. Miners rebounded 3.3%, helped by gold stocks on strong bullion prices. A more than 4% drop on Thursday, led by BHP and Rio Tinto, highlighted the sector's growing ties to the AI trade through copper, a critical metal for AI infrastructure. "The AI infrastructure boom has created a new layer of demand for copper and power infrastructure, pulling parts of the mining sector into the same investme
Miners rise 3.3%, but down for seventh week Tech stocks rebound; WiseTech jumps 9% Banks ease after Thursday's rally (Updates to close) By Nichiket Sunil and Shravya Marakini Oct 16 (Reuters) — Australian shares posted their highest close in 5 weeks on Friday, as easing concerns over a global equity selloff sparked buying in mining and technology stocks, while banks notched their strongest weekly gain in six months. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1% to 8,806.70, its highest close since September 10. The benchmark gained 1% this week, its best performance since early August.
Asian technology stocks stabilised after a recent selloff, as concerns over CoreWeave's debt burden eased, with upbeat earnings and resilient demand for semiconductors helping reinforce confidence in the sector's fundamentals. Miners rebounded 3.3%, helped by gold stocks on strong bullion prices. A more than 4% drop on Thursday, led by BHP and Rio Tinto, highlighted the sector's growing ties to the AI trade through copper, a critical metal for AI infrastructure.
"The AI infrastructure boom has created a new layer of demand for copper and power infrastructure, pulling parts of the mining sector into the same investment cycle as technology stocks," said Hebe Chen, a market analyst at Vantage Markets. BHP and Rio Tinto climbed 3.5% and 1.5%, respectively, on Friday. The sub-index, however, posted its seventh straight weekly loss. Glencore's Australian shares ended their debut week on the bourse lower than the opening level.
Its CHESS Depositary Interests closed at A$11.16 on the day, over 2% lower than their opening price of A$11.44 on Wednesday. Technology stocks rebounded 5.6% after a 3.4% drop on Thursday. Sector leader WiseTech Global climbed 9%, while accounting software provider Xero ended up 7.1%. Banks fell after marking their highest close in more than a month on Thursday.
The sector rallied earlier in the week after soft domestic jobs data tempered bets of a rate hike. The sub-index, which comprises Australia's largest banks, rose 3.2% during the week, marking its best weekly performance since April. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.5% to 13,753.73. (Reporting by Nichiket Sunil; Additional reporting by Shravya Marakini in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) ((Nichiket.Sunil@thomsonreuters.com;)) |1|For more information on DIARIES & DATA: U.S.
earnings diary RESF/US Wall Street Week Ahead.N/O Global Economy Week Ahead DATA/................................................................ For latest top breaking news across all markets NEWS1 |1