Staff writers
Updated ,first published
The Australian sharemarket maintained momentum to end the week slightly below its previous peak, with tech stock Atlassian surging as it posted results after Wall Street’s closing bell.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed down just 8 points on Friday to 9263.6, retreating slightly from its record close on Thursday. The Australian dollar was steady at US70.35¢.
Gold miners performed strongly as the price of gold steady above $US4200 an ounce. Dual listed Newmont Corporation jumped 2.68 per cent, Northern Star ended the day 2.3 per cent higher while Evolution Mining dipped by 3.08 per cent.
Resource giant BHP was steady and rival Rio Tinto edged up slightly, but Fortescue fell 2.33 per cent as iron ore prices slid lower. BHP and Rio Tinto executives have reportedly been invited by the White House to a meeting with Donald Trump on the weekend to demonstrate the administration’s commitment to wean the US off supply chains dominated by China.
Financial stocks lost ground, with all the big four banks retreating. Commonwealth Bank lost 1.03 per cent, National Australia Bank fell 1.1 per cent while Westpac and ANZ Bank each gave up 1.56 and 1 per cent respectively.
Energy stocks climbed after oil prices rose again on reports that Iran attacked “hostile targets” in the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran seeking to bar US ships from the critical waterway in a deal with Oman. West Texas Intermediate rose above $US78 a barrel, after surging almost 3 per cent in the previous session, while Brent settled around $US82. Woodside Energy and Santos advanced slightly.
Technology stocks were mixed. WiseTech surged 4.27 per cent and Xero gained 1.47 per cent. Technology One advanced 0.61 per cent but NEXTDC lost 1.47 per cent over the day.
Overnight, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent, and was just below the record it reached on Tuesday (US time). The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 per cent.
Atlassian, a leading provider of AI-powered collaboration and team productivity software, surged 32.7 per cent in after-hours trade after releasing robust results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year.
Total revenue grew 28 per cent year-over-year to $US1.77 billion ($2.5 billion) and cloud revenue growth rose 31 per cent year-on-year.
“Q4 closes out a year that proves our long-term strategy is paying off,” said Mike Cannon‑Brookes, Atlassian’s CEO and co‑founder.
Wall Street has calmed over the last two days. Companies from a mix of sectors reported their latest financial results, adding to an already busy round of corporate earnings reports.
“August is off to an extremely strong start, but there is still plenty of August left to go, and August is typically a volatile month for stocks,” said Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer at Bellwether Wealth, in a research note.
Warner Bros. Discovery rose 1.7 per cent after reporting earnings that came in ahead of what investors were expecting. Molson Coors rose 1.3 per cent after also reporting encouraging financial results.
On the losing end, Honeywell Aerospace fell 23.2 per cent after turning in results that fell well short of forecasts. AppLovin slumped 19.7 per cent after the digital ad company reported mixed financial results for its most recent quarter.
Strong overall profits from companies has helped allay concerns on Wall Street about the market being overpriced. Roughly 85 per cent of companies in the S&P 500 have reported their results and overall earnings growth for the period is shaping up to be the strongest since 2021.
Outside of earnings, SpaceX surged 6.1 per cent. More than 911 million SpaceX shares held by early investors and employees became eligible for sale on Thursday as a lockup period for the stock expired. That is more than double the shares that were initially offered to the public for sale during the initial public offering for Elon Musk’s company. SpaceX jumped as high as $US225 a share following its market debut in June, but has since slumped below its initial $US135 offering price. The stock closed at $US114.92.
The rate of inflation is stuck above 3 per cent and higher costs have been squeezing businesses and households, while threatening to crimp broader economic growth. The US economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5 per cent pace during the second quarter. Households are still spending and the jobs market remains resilient, but worries linger for both areas of the economy.
Higher gas prices and added costs for shipping goods could prompt households to shift more spending toward necessities. That could hurt businesses focusing on nonessential items and services for many people, such as travel and entertainment.
Employment remains strong, but growth has been easing. A weekly report on Thursday showed that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, though layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years. Employers pulled back on hiring in June, adding only 57,000 jobs. The latest monthly jobs report, for July, will be released on Friday.
Worries about inflation and the jobs market have prompted the Federal Reserve to hold its benchmark interest rate steady. Stubborn inflation, though, is nudging the central bank toward raising interest rates before the end of the year in order to help tame inflation. Raising rates, though, could also slow economic growth while weighing down prices for stocks and other investments.
Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.67 per cent from 4.63 per cent late on Wednesday.
European markets were mostly higher.
With AP, Bloomberg
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