The Australian sharemarket rounded out its worst start to the year in more than a decade on Friday, as the broad rally staged in the final months of 2023 lost steam.

The S&P/ASX 200 ended Friday’s session just 5 points lower at 7489.1, as traders awaited the latest US jobs report, expected early on Saturday morning (AEDT), for more insight into the state of the world’s largest economy.

The benchmark closed out its first week of the new year down 1.3 per cent, after rallying more than 7 per cent last month on hopes that central banks would begin cutting interest rates sooner than expected. The week marked the benchmark’s worst first-week performance since 2007.

IML senior portfolio managers Hugh Giddy and Simon Conn said they expected Australian shares to remain volatile, despite the hopes for a fall in inflation.

“Bullish commentators appear to think interest rate cuts are not far away in Australia,” the pair told investors in a note on Friday.

“But it’s important to note that while goods price rises have moderated significantly, services inflation is more persistent. Unless the economy weakens abruptly, interest rates may remain at elevated levels in Australia for some time.”

Tech stocks were the worst-performing ones on the ASX on Friday, falling 2.1 per cent to end the week 5.4 per cent lower. They took their lead from the US tech-heavy Nasdaq index, which posted its first five-day losing streak in more than a year on Thursday.

Iron ore miners also dragged the ASX lower after futures pricing for the commodity in Singapore slipped 2 per cent, dropping back below $US140 per tonne after a strong rally in recent weeks. Rio Tinto fell 1.6 per cent to $132.36, Fortescue 2.6 per cent to $28.19 and BHP 1 per cent to $49.07.

ASX gold miners rose in the final session of the week after the price of the precious metal edged higher overnight. Newmont gained 1.1 per cent at $59.60 and Northern Star Resources 1.3 per cent at $12.96.

Finance was the best-performing sector on the benchmark on Friday. Index heavyweight Commonwealth Bank rose 1.4 per cent to $112.99. QBE Insurance climbed 2 per cent to $15.04 and Suncorp 1.4 per cent to $13.99.

In corporate news, Core Lithium fell 11.5 per cent to 23¢ after pausing mining at its Northern Territory mine amid a sustained slump in the price of the commodity.

Scrap metal recycler Sims dropped 6 per cent to $14.19 after it was cut to a sell rating by analysts at Citi.

Online wagering company BlueBet jumped 33.3 per cent to 26¢ following a report by The Australian Financial Review on Thursday, which quoted sources as saying that the company was in talks to merge with fellow bookmaker BetR.