‘Quiet old Friday’ to close out trading week with ASX gains

The ASX finished slightly up on Friday, but investors remain uncertain over a potential hung parliament and US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The Australian sharemarket seesawed on Friday as investors remained uneasy amid the local election climate and US President Donald Trump’s expected trade policies.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 13 points or 0.16 per cent to 7982 and the broader All Ordinaries rose 10 points or 0.12 per cent to 8195.50 to close the trading week.

The dollar dropped 0.25 per cent, trading at US62.82c.

On a cautious day, seven of 11 sectors ended in the green, with energy and financials rallying while tech dragged the bourse down.

The unusually subdued session was influenced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling the election for May 3.

The ASX finished the market week with a gain on Friday amid federal election uncertainty and Trump’s looming tariffs. Picture: NewsWire / Dylan Coker

“(There is) some uncertainty there with regards to potentially a hung parliament and potentially having to work with independents or the Greens, who aren’t seen as particularly business friendly,” IG Australia market analyst Tony Sycamore said.

“It makes people reluctant to commit money to markets, so it keeps them on the sidelines.

“Markets are tricky at the best of times, but if you can remove the political uncertainty, it helps you frame up your views for the year or five years ahead,” Mr Sycamore said.

Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” next Wednesday continued to cloud over economic outlook.

“There are some sharp concerns – another round of tariffs is not particularly good for global growth, and being here in Australia, a small open economy, we’re very, very exposed,” Mr Sycamore said. 

Overnight on Wall Street, the tech heavy Nasdaq continued to struggle, down 0.54 per cent and contributing to a soggy session on the world’s top economy.

A contributor to this fall, according to Mr Sycamore, was the emergence of China’s Deep Seek to rival ChatGPT which “shattered a lot of illusions around the superiority of the US tech sector.”

“And it doesn’t help that Elon (Musk) has got involved in the political side of things because Tesla is a bit of a cheerleader type stock, it’s at the vanguard of sentiment – and right now sentiment is not particularly positive to Tesla.”

That investor sentiment reflected on the local tech sector. WiseTech tumbling 4.31 per cent to $80.05, Xero slipping 2.06 per cent to $155.86 and Technology One falling 1.11 per cent to $28.51.

The financial and energy sectors pulled the local bourse into the green, while gold mining stocks also surged due to an overnight high on gold prices. Picture: Newswire.

Banks pulled the market into the green. Commonwealth Bank rose 0.25 per cent to $150.43, Westpac rallied 0.75 per cent to $31.89, NAB was up 0.20 per cent to $34.17 and ANZ lifted 0.54 per cent to $29.64.

Thanks to crude oil prices pushing levels unseen in weeks, the energy sector was able to rally.

Woodside Energy gained 0.88 per cent to $23.81, Santos climbed 1.64 per cent to $6.80 and Whitehaven Coal advanced 2.37 per cent to $5.61.

In company news, Star Entertainment’s licence will remain suspended for at least six months while remediation continues and the casino secures its finances.

The biggest winner was Ramelius Resources which surged 6.93 per cent to $2.47 off the back of the gold price soaring to a new high overnight, up 0.58 per cent to make the price of one ounce of the precious metal US$3073 (AU$4,888.79).

Gold miners took the top five on the S&P/ASX200. Spartan Resources soared 6.30 per cent to $1.94, Regis Resources advanced 4.56 per cent to $3.90, West African Resources climbed 4.37 per cent to $2.39 and De Grey Mining jumped 4.33 per cent to $2.17.

Originally published as ‘Quiet old Friday’ to close out trading week with ASX gains