Australian shares fell on Friday after Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear program sites in a major escalation of tensions in the Middle East, which sent investors rushing to the safety of gold.

The S&P/ASX 200 opened higher, before falling 17.7 points, or 0.2 per cent, to close at 8547.4, with eight out of 11 sectors declining. Still, the benchmark index notched a weekly gain of 0.4 per cent.

“Tensions regularly flare up in the Middle East, escalate for a while, and then settle back down again, so there is a danger in getting too negative,” said AMP’s head of investment strategy, Shane Oliver. “The key for investors is to look for the opportunities that the latest conflict may throw up.”

The Australian bourse took a solid lead from Wall Street, where equities closed higher in a broad advance, with utilities pacing eight of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors higher. Boeing slid 4.8 per cent, recovering from an opening drop after one of its aircraft crashed in India.

On the Australian sharemarket, energy stocks rallied as oil prices surged as much as 13 per cent to above $US78 a barrel after Israel carried out waves of military strikes against Iran. Woodside Energy rose 7.4 per cent to $25.21, while Santos climbed 3.7 per cent to $6.96.

Gold prices also jumped as investors fled to safe haven assets, with the precious metal trading just $US60 below its record of $US3500 an ounce. Gold miners rallied, with Newmont up 5.8 per cent to $88.07, Genesis Minerals climbing 2.1 per cent to $4.85, and Evolution Mining gaining 5.5 per cent to $9.20.

Iron ore shares tumbled as prices of the steel-making ingredient fell further below $US95 a tonne. BHP dropped 2.6 per cent to $37.34 and Rio Tinto fell 1.1 per cent to $106.38.

The major banks finished lower, with Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank dropping 0.7 per cent to $179.35 and 0.3 per cent to $38.87, respectively.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, online luxury retailer Cettire extended its decline, dropping another 20.3 per cent to 25¢ on Friday after tanking 31.2 per cent on Thursday on the back of its second profit downgrade in less than two months.

Footwear retailer Accent, which owns the Hype and Platypus chains and fashion outlet Glue Store, plunged 24.7 per cent to $1.36 after warning that sales have flagged post-Christmas.

Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure fell 6.2 per cent to $3.79 after North American giant Brookfield Infrastructure confirmed reports in The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column that it has divested 23.2 per cent of its stake in the Queensland coal port.