AU Evening Wrap: Australia Shares Show Resilience, Recovering Nearly All Its Initial Losses
Market Performance
The Australian $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU$ index edged down by 0.1% to close at 7822.3, slightly eroding its weekly gains due to a downturn in the shares of heavyweight banks and mining companies. The index showed resilience, recovering nearly all its initial losses by midday, only to succumb to a downward trend in the afternoon, thus remaining in negative territory for the entirety of Friday's trading session.
Banking giants $Macquarie Technology Group Ltd(MAQ.AU$, $Westpac Banking Corp(WBC.AU$, $National Australia Bank Ltd(NAB.AU$, and $CommBank(CBA.AU$ experienced declines ranging from 0.2% to 1.2%. $ANZ Group Holdings Ltd(ANZ.AU$ stood apart from its peers, managing to eke out a 0.5% increase.
In the mining sector, prominent iron-ore producers $BHP Group Ltd(BHP.AU$, $Rio Tinto Ltd(RIO.AU$, and $Fortescue Ltd(FMG.AU$ saw their shares fall by 0.85% to 1.1%. This drop contributed to a 0.5% pullback in the materials sector, despite witnessing a strong performance from gold mining firms and companies supplying building materials.
Top News
Modest Rise in Australian Household Expenditure Amidst Slowing Annual Growth
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported a marginal increase in Australian household expenditure of 0.1% compared to the previous year. Despite the rise, the pace of annual spending growth has decelerated in recent months.
Throughout the year, expenditure rose in four primary categories, with health expenses surging by 8.8%, followed by miscellaneous goods and services at 7.3%, and furnishings and household equipment at 3.3%. Regionally, Queensland and South Australia outpaced other states with notable spending uplifts of 2.2% and 0.8%, respectively. These increases were predominantly attributed to heightened health-related expenditures and purchases of miscellaneous goods and services, as highlighted in the ABS report.
The ABS further shed light on spending patterns, revealing a 1.8% uptick in non-discretionary outlays over discretionary ones. This shift largely reflects higher investments in health services and food compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR, ASX
Disclaimer: Moomoo Technologies Inc. is providing this content for information and educational use only.
Read more
Comment
Sign in to post a comment
Moomoo News Official Account
Australian stock market news that is available at your fingertips
3751Followers
6Following
107KVisitors
Follow