ASX 200: property, energy stocks higher; Tesla-led US falls
The local bourse closed the week on an upbeat note, boosted by uranium and oil stocks as the major miners declined.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The local sharemarket has ended firmly in the green amid low holiday volumes, buoyed by energy and property sector gains.
At the close of trade on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.6 per cent, or 49.3 points, at 8250.5. Across the shortened trading week it put on 0.4 per cent.
The broader All Ordinaries index closed the day up 0.6 per cent, or 46.9 points, at 8511.9.
Meanwhile the Australian dollar rebounded further from the week’s low point of US61.81, its softest price since the pandemic. At 5pm (AEDT) the Aussie was buying US62.17c.
“There’s still no flagging of the US dollar’s vigour, despite US equities struggling on the first trading day of the year,” RBC Capital Markets head of Asia forex strategy Alvin Tan said.
Property and energy stocks led local equities momentum, with each sector up more than 1 per cent.
Commercial property leader Goodman Group spiked 1.1 per cent to $36.42, while Scentre put on 1.3 per cent to $3.54.
The heavyweight financials index was also upbeat, adding 0.9 per cent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank rose 1.1 per cent to $155.28, while National Australia Bank jumped 1.1 per cent to $37.63. ANZ Bank added 1 per cent to $28.87 and Westpac grew 0.9 per cent to $32.69.
Energy stocks were boosted by the price of crude. Woodside turned up 1 per cent to $25.20, while Santos rose 1.6 per cent to $6.88.
Meanwhile uranium producers booked hefty gains following suspension of production at a major Kazakhstan mine.
Mid-cap producer Paladin Energy spiked 4.3 per cent to $8.23, while rival Deep Yellow surged 9.4 per cent to $1.28. Junior Bannerman Energy soared 14.8 per cent to $3.34, and rival Boss Energy brightened 5.2 per cent to $2.61.
The surge in uranium stocks came after major Canadian producer Cameco said it was “disappointed and surprised” by the unexpected suspension of production at its uranium mine in Kazakhstan.
Elsewhere major iron ore miners underperformed, as BHP slipped 0.5 per cent to $39.76, while rival Rio Tinto dropped 0.6 per cent to $117.47. Fortescue fared worse, shedding 2.1 per cent to $18.41.
But gold miners shone after the price of the yellow metal reached $US2660.00, its highest point in two weeks.
Evolution Mining rose 1.2 per cent to $4.90, Northern Star gained 2 per cent to $15.76 and Newmont found 3.2 per cent to $62.16.
“Gold’s value increased by over 30 per cent during 2024, the most significant annual rise since 2010,” XS.com senior market analyst Antonio Di Giacomo said.
“This increase reflects concerns over Trump’s protectionist policies and the markets’ response to global volatility.
“Financial uncertainty, fuelled by the political and economic decisions of the US government, has led investors to seek safer assets, like gold, which has historically been considered a haven during times of crisis … silver and platinum have followed a similar trend.”
Wall Street’s Tesla-led slide
Wall Street major indexes slid after Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker Tesla saw annual deliveries slide for the first time in a decade – after a surge of promotional deals in the fourth quarter failed to stimulate sales enough to top the prior-year results.
While it sold a record number of cars during the three-month period, the final quarterly result still missed analysts’ expectations and fell short of the roughly 515,000 vehicles needed to top its 2023 performance on a full-year basis. For all of 2024, Tesla delivered 1.79 million vehicles worldwide, down about 1 per cent from a year earlier.
Overnight Mr Musk tweeted the Tesla cybertruck involved in the ‘terrorist attack’ outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was a ‘wrong’ pick, which “actually contained the explosion”.
The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2025
Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken. https://t.co/9vj1JdcRZV
On Wall Street, all three stock indexes closed in the red. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite each slipped 0.2 per cent and the Dow Jones closed 0.4 per cent lower.
Next week’s release of monthly inflation and retail sales data for November are on local investor radars.
The Aussie dollar is trading near US62.14c after hitting a near five-year low, creating hassles for overseas travellers during peak holiday season.
Bitcoin is just below $US97,000.
Originally published as ASX 200: property, energy stocks higher; Tesla-led US falls
Buy BHP, sell Rio: the top 12 tips from our stock experts
Giving your portfolio a makeover for the new year? Our expert stock pickers recommend buying BHP and Woolies, while ditching Rio Tinto and QBE. See what else they suggest.
From $70k to $1.3m: Mick’s 15-year journey to early retirement
Fear drove Mick to transform his finances when he was in his 40s and now, through sacrifice and planning he is looking at retiring 12 years earlier than he originally thought possible.