The Australian sharemarket finished lower on Friday to record a second consecutive weekly drop, with markets no longer fully pricing in an interest rate cut in this cycle since the Reserve Bank of Australia held the cash rate on Tuesday.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 58.6 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 8769.7, despite six out of the 11 sectors being in the green. The benchmark shed 1 per cent for the week.

Heavyweight financials offset gains elsewhere as Macquarie tumbled 5.7 per cent to $204.77 as a $1.7 billion September half-year profit missed analyst forecasts by 10.4 per cent, according to UBS. Commonwealth Bank was down 1.5 per cent to $175.91, while National Australia Bank rebounded nearly 1 per cent.

Technology was the weakest sector as it tracked losses on the Nasdaq, where Sydney-based Iren plunged 12 per cent. WiseTech Global retreated 2.7 per cent to $66.17, Life360 3.6 per cent to $46.64 and Xero 2.5 per cent to $141.74.

Materials were mixed. Newmont rallied 1.8 per cent to $128 as gold neared $US4000 an ounce again, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue were both down nearly 1.5 per cent as iron ore prices dropped 1.2 per cent to $US102.65 per tonne.

Alliance Aviation fell 42.7 per cent to $1.45 as trading resumed after a voluntary suspension. The Qantas-backed aviation services provider warned FY26 results would fall well short of analyst expectations due to higher aircraft, engine and maintenance costs. Founding managing director Scott McMillan also stepped down from the board.

Stocks in focus

In company news, News Corp jumped 3 per cent to $46.35 as revenue in the September quarter of $US2.14 billion ($3.31 billion) came in better than expected, driven by Dow Jones and real estate services offsetting sluggish advertising in its Australian print products.

Afterpay owner Block plunged 15.8 per cent to $95.12 after the fintech’s third quarter showed revenue of $US6.11 billion compared to expectations of $US6.34 billion.

Qantas fell 6.6 per cent to $9.51 after forecasting first-half FY26 domestic unit revenue to increase about 3 per cent, at the low end of guidance, and as it noted that non-resource sector corporate demand was growing more slowly than leisure.

James Hardie rose 1.4 per cent to $26.12 after it lost 12.7 per cent on Thursday, which the company attributed to its imminent removal from the Morgan Stanley Capital International index.

Outdoor advertising group oOh!media fell 6 per cent to $1.26 as it warned of a weaker finish to the year from softer advertising conditions and the loss of a major New Zealand contract.

And REA Group fell 1 per cent to $209.20 after the classifieds provider reported revenue of $429 million in the September quarter, up 4 per cent year-on-year, with EBITDA excluding associates rising 5 per cent to $254 million.

That’s a wrap on today’s news. Join us again soon for more live markets news.