Australia's share market is within striking distance of record highs as "Goldilocks" market conditions continue to fuel investors' buy orders.
Australia's share market is within striking distance of record highs as "Goldilocks" market conditions continue to fuel investors' buy orders.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 41.5 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 8,987.4, on Friday as the broader All Ordinaries gained 47.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 9,288.1.
"There's a kind of 'buy-everything' mantra still going through risk assets more broadly with this continued Goldilocks scenario playing through for a lot of the equity indices, including our own," Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston told AAP.
"We've probably gotten less of a tailwind from rate cuts, but even as fewer rate cuts have been priced, this was justified by signs of stronger private sector growth ... and that's not a bad thing for earnings."
The top-200 was up 2.3 per cent from the previous Friday in its best weekly gain since it rebounded in early May from the "Liberation Day" tariff announcement sell-off.
Eight of 11 local sectors traded higher, led by IT stocks, health-care plays and with decent upticks in the heavyweight financials and materials segments.
Strength in Australia's IT sector followed a fresh record on Wall Street's tech-heavy Nasdaq overnight, after ChatGPT owner OpenAI reached a $US500 billion ($A758 billion) valuation following a share sale.
The raw materials sector finished the week 2.6 per cent higher and is hovering at its highest level since the beginning of 2024, after gold reset its record value multiple times and copper soared to a two-month high.
BHP has clawed back most of its losses since reports of a Chinese blockade on some of its iron ore cargo prompted a $5 billion (down 2.5 per cent) sell-off on Wednesday.
It is now trading roughly one per cent short of Tuesday's close at $42.08 per share.
Investors took some profits on gold on Friday - the precious metal has eased roughly 0.9 per cent from its new all-time high at just below $US3,900 ($A5,910) an ounce.
The bourse's largest gold miner Northern Star shaved 1.7 per cent to $24.41, but was up 7.5 per cent for the week and has swollen by more than half in 2025 to a market cap of $36 billion.
Financial stocks rallied three per cent since Monday, snapping a two-week losing streak and edging the sector within roughly 0.3 per cent of its record close, which originally raised eyebrows over potentially frothy bank valuations when it was reached back in mid-August.
The segment is currently valued at more than $950 billion and accounts for almost a third of the Australian share market's total value.
Energy stocks and utilities have been under continued pressure ahead of an OPEC+ meeting at the weekend, with markets betting on further output hikes and sending oil prices to four-month lows.
Health-care stocks snapped a six-week losing streak to bounce more than four per cent since Monday, but the segment has lost roughly a sixth of its value since blood plasma giant CSL's disastrous earnings call in August.
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin has rebounded from its recent lows in a typically volatile fashion, jumping roughly 10 per cent in five sessions to trade at $US119,930 ($181,640).
The Australian dollar is buying 65.98 US cents, down from 66.19 US cents on Thursday at 5pm, but the Aussie was broadly stronger against most major currencies across the week.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 rose 41.5 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 8,987.4
* The broader All Ordinaries gained 47.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 9,288.1
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar trades for:
* 65.98 US cents, from 66.19 US cents on Thursday
* 97.37 Japanese yen, from 97.40 Japanese yen
* 56.29 euro cents, from 56.37 euro cents
* 49.11 British pence, from 49.07 British pence
* 113.36 NZ cents, from 113.40 NZ cents
