Source : THE AGE NEWS
The Australian sharemarket has jumped at the open after ANZ bank unveiled a $3.8 billion half-year profit, and as investors took note of another positive trading session on Wall Street. The country’s mining giants also rose on the back of higher iron ore prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 50.6 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 8716.4 in early trade, with nine of 11 industry sectors in the green, led by materials, where a rise in commodity prices boosted mining stocks.
Financial stocks were steady. Commonwealth Bank was flat while National Australia Bank and Westpac each lost 0.3 per cent in early trade. ANZ was up 0.5 per cent after it unveiled a $3.8 billion half-year profit. The bank’s chief, Nuno Matos, warned that the economic impact of the Iran war has yet to be fully felt.
“Much of the potential impact of this crisis remains ahead of us,” Matos said. “But the longer the flow of oil is constrained, the greater the chance the crisis shifts from being primarily an inflation challenge to much more a supply and growth challenge.”
Mining behemoth BHP rose 2.9 per cent, Rio Tinto was 3.4 per cent higher and Fortescue was up 1.7 per cent as iron ore prices advanced overnight. The gold miners also climbed, with Northern Star adding 1.7 per cent and Evolution Mining up 2.1 per cent.
Energy stocks shed their gains from Thursday as the price of oil slid. Woodside Energy was down 1.2 per cent while Santos fell 0.4 per cent and Yancoal was down 0.3 per cent. Ampol was up 0.7 per cent while fellow refiner Viva Energy added 0.8 per cent. The Australian government announced on Friday that it had secured two shipments carrying 100 million litres of jet fuel, as well as another shipment of 50 million litres of diesel from sources in Asia.
Thursday’s wild $US126 ($175) oil price spike retreated. Oil was seesawing with little sign that Washington and Tehran were moving closer to a deal. Brent futures initially rose to $US126 a barrel – their highest level since the conflict began – before retreating. At 10.15am (AEST), Brent was trading at $US111.53 a barrel, while US oil was at $US105.72.
Qantas rose 0.6 per cent in early trade. The airline announced on Friday that it was extending domestic flight cuts through to September as the energy crisis bites.
Coles slipped 0.2 per cent after its third-quarter update revealed prices were set to rise again. Sales grew 3.6 per cent to $9.8 billion in the quarter, or 5.7 per cent excluding tobacco. Food price inflation (excluding tobacco) actually moderated to 0.8 per cent, with plenty of fresh produce available, but the grocery chain said supplier cost requests were rising.
“In recent weeks, we have seen an increase in supplier cost price increase requests and higher costs within our own operations, particularly in fuel, freight and packaging,” it said in an ASX announcement.
“We are actively managing these and will mitigate impacts where possible, while balancing the needs of customers and suppliers.”
Its rival Woolworths, which warned of price rises on Thursday, lost 0.3 per cent.
The Australian dollar was trading at US71.99¢ at 10.43am (AEST).
Overnight, the S&P 500 rallied 1 per cent and topped its prior all-time high to close out its best month in more than five years. The Dow Jones leaped 790 points, or 1.6 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9 per cent to its own record.
Alphabet led the way and rallied 10 per cent after the owner of Google and YouTube reported profit for the latest quarter that almost doubled analysts’ expectations. Investments in artificial intelligence “are lighting up every part of the business”, chief executive Sundar Pichai said.
It’s the latest company to deliver fatter profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, even with very high oil prices and uncertainty about the economy.
Apple reported after the closing bell, with results that beat Wall Street estimates as customers showed eagerness to buy a new MacBook model driven by incoming chief executive John Ternus, while supply constraints hindered iPhone sales. Apple shares were up about 2 per cent in after-hours trading.
Meta Platforms tumbled 8.7 per cent, even though the company behind Facebook and Instagram made more profit last quarter than expected. Investors focused more on its increased forecast for how much it will spend on data centres and other investments as it builds out its AI capabilities.
Doubts are still high among some investors about whether all the AI spending by Meta and other companies will produce enough profit and productivity to make it worth it.
Microsoft fell 3.9 per cent after likewise raising its forecast for investments and other capital spending. But analysts also said that accelerating trends at its Azure business were encouraging.
Amazon rose 0.8 per cent after swinging between gains and losses through the day. It blew past analysts’ expectations for earnings in the latest quarter.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave up their big overnight gains. Reports also suggested that the US economy’s growth had accelerated in the first three months of the year by less than economists had expected, while a measure of inflation worsened in March by about as much as expected.
In sharemarkets abroad, indexes rose in Europe.
London’s FTSE 100 jumped 1.6 per cent after the Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold. That followed similar decisions by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan on Tuesday to keep their rates unchanged. Germany’s DAX returned 1.4 per cent, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5 per cent after the European Central Bank also held its own interest rates steady.
With AP, Bloomberg
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