Source : BUSINESS NEWS
The Australian share market is up for a second-straight week as the US tones down its tough talk on tariffs.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 47.7 points, or 0.60 per cent, on Thursday, to 7,968.2, as the broader All Ordinaries gained 49.9 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 8,175.1.
The leading indexes gained about two per cent each for the short trading week, after the Trump administration called its China tariff levels unsustainable and retracted threats to depose Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
“The US seems to be to extending further concessions and negotiating with trade partners, effectively looking for off-ramps,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.
“The market is taking that quite positively because it indicates maybe we’ll avoid the worst impacts of a trade war globally.”
Eight of 11 local sectors finished higher on Thursday, with materials helping lift the bourse with a 1.2 per cent gain.
Uranium miner Paladin was the top-200’s best performer, up 12.7 per cent to $12.39, continuing to rally a day after posting record quarterly production at its Langer Heinrich Mine.
Gold miners also fared well, with the precious metal bouncing following a profit taking dip after reaching an all-time high of $US3,500 an ounce on Tuesday.
Large cap iron ore miners eked out less than one per cent gains on Thursday, but were up for the week.
BHP lifted 4.6 per cent and Rio Tinto was up 3.8 per cent since Good Friday, as easing trade tensions boosted demand expectations for top importer China.
The ASX/200 financials sector has recovered almost two-thirds of its roughly 19 per cent losses since hitting a record high in mid-February.
Commonwealth Bank, the world’s most expensive bank stock, is within striking distance of $168, breached on Wednesday, at $164.72.
Improving confidence around global trade pushed oil prices higher and helped energy stocks rebound 5.3 per cent this week, but the sector is still down almost 18 per cent in 2025.
Brent crude futures are trading at $US66.63 a barrel, recovering from sub-$US60 lows earlier in the month, but still more than 10 per cent below pre-Liberation Day levels.
ResMed helped lift the healthcare sector 1.2 per cent, after the sleep device maker posted strong sales growth and confirmed its products were exempt from US tariffs.
Investors will be watching next week’s March quarter inflation print closely for hints on what the Reserve Bank will do at its May meeting.
Interest rate markets have fully priced a 25-basis-point cut for May 20, but Capital.com’s Mr Rodda said the future remained unwritten.
“That trimmed mean inflation number probably has to come it in below 2.7 per cent, ideally, for the markets to feel confident the RBA will cut,” he said.
The Australian dollar is buying 63.71 US cents, down from 64.18 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm and roughly on-par with the same time last week.
This Aussie is up roughly three per cent against the greenback for 2025, but it has lost ground on most major currencies and has sunk more than six per cent against the Euro since January.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished Thursday up 47.7 points, or 0.60 per cent, on Thursday, to 7,968.2.
* The broader All Ordinaries rose 49.9 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 8,175.1.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 63.71 US cents, from 64.18 US cents at Tuesday at 5pm
* 90.87 Japanese yen, from 90.93 Japanese yen
* 56.11 Euro cents, from 56.35 Euro cents
* 48.00 British pence, from 48.18 pence
* 106.84 NZ cents, from 107.08 NZ cents
