Banks, property stocks weigh down ASX; Star endures tumultuous day

Here’s your five-minute recap of the trading day.

The numbers

The Australian sharemarket dropped marginally lower to end the trading week, spurred by losses from the banking and property sectors.

The S&P/ASX 200 fell 8.1 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 8436.2 points at close on Friday, after adding 0.5 per cent on Thursday, with seven of the 11 industry sectors in the red.

The Australian dollar saw minor gains in value, and was trading at US65.17 cents at 4.20pm AEDT.

The ASX was lower across the board on Friday. Credit: Peter Braig

The lifters

Australia’s mining giants finished strong after a mixed start to trading. BHP (up 1.3 per cent), Fortescue (up 1.6 per cent) and Rio Tinto (up 0.9 per cent) were all in the green, while Amcor (up 0.5 per cent) and Northern Star Resources (up 0.8 per cent) also added value.

Resolute Mining edged up 4.8 per cent, after announcing it had paid a $US50 million ($77 million) to the Malian government, after it had held company chief executive Terence Holohan and two other employees for almost two weeks after demanding a renegotiation of business terms and additional back tax payments.

Resolute has now made settlement payments totalling $US130 million to the government of Mali, where it operates its Syama mine. A final payment worth $US30 million is expected to be paid in the next month.

WiseTech’s share value rose 1.8 per cent, while NextDC also added 2.5 per cent. Woodside Energy (up 0.5 per cent) and Santos (up 0.3 per cent) progressed, while Ampol retreated 1.5 per cent.

Webjet shares surged by 9 per cent, a day after the ACCC launched legal proceedings against the online travel booking site in the Federal Court.

The laggards

No industry sector lost more than real estate, with Goodman Group down 0.8 per cent and Scentre Group down 1.1 per cent, as investors weighed up the prospect of the Reserve Bank not cutting interest rates until the middle of next year.

Losses from the big four banks were led by NAB and ANZ (both down 1.1 per cent), Westpac (down 0.1 per cent) and Commonwealth Bank sitting flat. Macquarie shares fell 0.6 per cent, while insurer QBE also finished flat.

Health giant CSL lost 1 per cent, while Resmed (down 0.5 per cent) and Cochlear (down 1.1 per cent) also fell. Origin Energy fell 0.3 per cent and APA Group lost 0.6 per cent of share value.

Star Entertainment shares finished flat after hitting an all-time low of 18 cents during the session. The stock had already shed more than 7 per cent on Thursday following the company’s annual meeting, where boss Steve McCann told investors it had posted an underlying loss before significant items of $27 million for the first four months of fiscal 2025.

The lowdown

Losses in the finance sector came as economists from ANZ, AMP and the Bank of Queensland all revised their forecasts for the Reserve Bank’s first interest rate cut to May, following the release of inflation numbers earlier this week.

The numbers, published by the ABS on Wednesday, found prices had risen 2.1 per cent in the year to October, although underlying inflation – a key indicator observed by the Reserve Bank – sat about 3.5 per cent.

In an address on Thursday night, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock reiterated that underlying inflation was “still too high”, and that – consequently – lowering the cash rate in the “near term” was not a serious consideration.

Overnight, European shares ticked up after falling the previous day as trading volumes thinned ahead of the US Thanksgiving Day holiday.

European stocks took centre stage with Wall Street closed for Thanksgiving.Credit: Reuters

Europe’s continent-wide STOXX 600 index rose 0.5 per cent, after falling 0.8 per cent across the previous two sessions. Trading in US equities and Treasuries was closed, but futures for the US S&P 500 were up 0.2 per cent after the index fell 0.4 per cent on Wednesday.

European markets were boosted by a rally in tech shares after Bloomberg reported the Biden administration’s curb on Chinese chips could be less severe than expected.

Data on Wednesday showed US consumer spending increased in October, but the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation ticked up to 2.3 per cent in October, from 2.1 per cent the previous month.

Together with the prospect of higher tariffs on imported goods, solid spending and inflation could narrow the scope for interest rate cuts next year.

“We continue to expect the FOMC to cut the Funds rate by 25 basis points at its December meeting,” said economist Kristina Clifton at Australia’s Commonwealth Bank, referring to the United States’ rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six rivals, was 0.1 per cent higher at 106.2 after dropping 0.7 per cent in the previous session.

In commodities markets, oil prices ticked up after Israel said its ceasefire with Hezbollah had been breached.

Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at $US2639 an ounce but on course for a near 4 per cent drop in November, its weakest monthly performance in over a year.

Tweet of the day

Quote of the day

“We value our team and are deeply committed to reaching an agreement as quickly as possible so they can receive the benefit of their new pay rates before Christmas.”
– A Woolworths spokeswoman, as warehouse workers entered a second week of strike action.

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Swan was hauled before a Senate committee on Friday morning, where he was grilled over the governance failings engulfing the embattled fund, including its links to the disgraced construction union and a Federal Court action for allegedly failing to process insurance claims in a timely manner.

with Reuters

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