Australian shares' rebound not enough to stop worst week in nearly four months

Reuters

Australian shares' rebound not enough to stop worst week in nearly four months

9 ago. 2024, ore 6:56 GMT

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ASX200 posts worst week since mid-April

Miners up on Friday, but log 5th weekly fall

Investors eye corporate earnings next week

Updates to close

By Aaditya GovindRao

Aug 9 (Reuters) -Australian shares rose on Friday, as miners and banks led a broad-based rally, but that was not enough to prevent the worst week in more than three months after a brutal global sell-off at the start of the week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed 1.3% higher at 7,777.7 points on the day. The index slid 2.1% for the week, its biggest weekly loss since mid-April.

Most of that was due to a 3.7% plunge on Monday after a bleak U.S. nonfarm payrolls report sparked fears of a recession in the country, triggering a global sell-off. However, that was short-lived as comments by U.S. central bank officials and a benign U.S. jobless claims report on Thursday calmed nerves.

Nonetheless, the recovery over the latter half of the week was not enough to outweigh the plunge on Monday.

"Today's market move is just a function of the week that was," said John Lockton, head of investment strategy at Sandstone Insights.

"There are signs that U.S. equity markets are stabilizing and the view that we're not going into recession is permeating. So, investors are going back in with more confidence that the price action was a bit unjustified."

Mining stocks .AXMM climbed 2%, with BHP Group BHP.AX and Rio Tinto RIO.AX rising 1.6% and 2%, respectively. The sub-index, however, dropped 2.6% in its fifth straight weekly fall.

Financials .AXFJ gained 0.8%, with the 'big four' banks up between 0.3% and 1.1%.

The country's two top lenders Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX are among the number of companies reporting results next week.

Energy stocks .AXEJ added 1.7% as oil prices were set for a 3% weekly gain.

Technology stocks .AXIJ ended 3.1% higher, tracking Wall Street gains. .N

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed down 0.1% at 12,243.46.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's policy decision will be on traders' radar next week.

Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao and Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza

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