A tug of war between rising gold miners and a souring consumer sector saw the Australian share market end the week basically flat on Friday.
By the close the ASX 200 had fallen just 3.6 points or less than 0.1% to 8881.9 points, although the index had fallen 1.7% for the week.
A fairly negative lead in from Wall Street didn’t help with shares in Facebook parent Meta falling, dragging down the rest of the magnificent seven mega-cap technology stocks and causing all three major US indices to drop.
Gold price pushes miners higher
After some hefty share price drops for gold shares after the price of gold fell by 5%, a 2.5% rise in the gold price sparked a rally to revisit some of those earlier higher share prices.
Shares in Westgold (ASX: WGX) jumped 5.4% to $5.32, Newmont (ASX: NEM) shares 3.2% to $124.93, Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL) added 2.2% to $1.17 and Evolution (ASX: EVN) shares jumped 3.5% to $10.86.
Pulling in the opposite direction were the consumer discretionary stocks which were dragging the index backwards.
Some of the worst performers included JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) shares which fell 3.4% to $104.72, Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) shares lost 2.5% to $84 and The Lottery Corporation (ASX: TLC) shares declined 1.1% to $5.50.
Banks mixed
Across the banking sector the results were more mixed due to stock specific challenges.
Shares in sector heavyweight Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) rose 0.7% to $171.64 and Westpac shares (ASX: WBC) were even stronger, up 1.1% to $38.74.
After ANZ (ASX: ANZ) foreshadowed a $1.1 billion profit hit from the restructuring of thousands of staff and penalties imposed by the corporate regulator its shares dropped 0.6% to $36.65.
Shares in NAB (ASX: NAB) also fell marginally by 0.1% to $43.62.
There were plenty of share prices moving around on the back of corporate news with shares in sleep device maker ResMed (ASX: RMD) rose 1.7% to $39.53 after it reported a 9% increase in first quarter earnings to US$1.3 billion after it announced plans to expand its manufacturing operations in the United States.
Chalmers sends Mayne lower
Heading in the opposite direction was shares in Mayne Pharma (ASX: MYX) which slumped a significant 31.5% to $4.25 after Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced he will reject US pharmaceutical giant Cosette’s $672 million takeover bid for the company.
Shares in insurance broker Steadfast (ASX: SDF) fell a hefty 9.7% to $5.60 after its chief executive Robert Kelly opted to stand aside on full pay while the board investigates allegations made against him by an employee.
Commercial and consumer finance group Humm (ASX: HUM) fell 9% to 60¢ after it reported a 14% slump in quarterly loan originations which fell due to technology issues and tougher credit approvals for its new buy now, pay later product.
The week ahead
The biggest action in the coming week is undoubtedly the Reserve Bank Board’s meeting to discuss official interest rates.
Even though last week’s higher than anticipated inflation numbers were the final nail in the coffin for any chances for a cut to official rates at the Melbourne Cup day meeting, the reasoning behind a hold will still give clues as to whether rates have reached their low point or whether there could be a further cut or two next year.
The Bank of England is also expected to hold its rates steady at 4% on Thursday and there may be some jobs data out of the US if the government shutdown allows for that.
The other area of interest is the release of some banking results from Westpac, NAB and Macquarie while a host of third quarter earnings results in the US will keep the market on its toes with some fast reactions.
