Australian shares limp across the line to end week higher

Australian shares have risen for six of the past seven weeks despite a weak finish in the final session, after miners, banks and real estate trusts came under selling pressure.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 64.6 points on Friday, down 0.71 per cent to 9082.2, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 69.7 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 9204.5.

It was the third consecutive week of gains for the major indices, but volatility in artificial intelligence stocks, resurgent oil prices and tough domestic economic conditions limited the top-200’s upside to 0.7 per cent over the five sessions.

The heavyweight raw materials sector dragged on the major indices, tumbling 1.6 per cent.

“Copper fell 1.6 per cent to near its lowest level since July, tracking AI-driven equity jitters over Nvidia’s leadership crisis, tariff uncertainty and a stronger dollar,” ANZ analysts wrote in a research note.

“A renewed sell-off in bond markets pushed yields higher and weighed on investment appetite for gold, while the US dollar index climbed above 103, adding to pressure on the yellow metal.”

Spot gold fell to $US3895 ($5731) an ounce, while cryptocurrency Bitcoin – also a non-yielding asset – tumbled almost 7 per cent in two days to $US68,572 ($100,906), its lowest price since August.

Brent crude topped $US95 a barrel after US President Donald Trump played down hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Iran conflict, which has roiled energy markets and hampered global growth expectations for more than eight months.

Woodside and Santos, along with refinery operators Ampol and Viva, advanced modestly while coal producers lost ground.

Shares in uranium miner Paladin Energy tumbled 17 per cent after the company completed a $525 million equity raising to back its next phase of growth.

The major banks dropped on Friday, but the financials sector managed to improve for the week, though its recent rebound appears to be running into selling pressure at current levels.

NAB shares have fallen more than 6 per cent to $38.86 since handing down weak full-year profit result and after boss Andrew Irvine warned 2027 could continue to be tough for earnings.

Both consumer staples and cyclicals dropped over the five sessions, as more details emerged about the future of David Jones stores after the department store chain collapsed into voluntary administration last week.

Looking ahead, Australian employment figures come out next week, along with a slew of annual meetings, including for BlueScope, Mirvac, Regis Healthcare, Medibank, Northern Star and Seek.

The Australian dollar is trading its lowest value since January, buying 67.95 US cents and down from 68.37 US cents on Thursday at 5pm, as the greenback climbed alongside US bond yields.

Overnight, Wall Street shook, but it largely absorbed big swings for Nvidia and oil prices and finished with relatively modest losses. The moves suggested Wall Street sees limited fallout for the artificial intelligence industry, which carries immense influence on the market, despite the sudden fall of one of its biggest evangelists.

After dropping nearly 1 per cent at the start of trading, the S&P 500 quickly erased all the loss before finishing with a dip of 0.4 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 189 points, or 0.4 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite sank 0.4 per cent after trimming an early drop of 1.6 per cent.

Stocks broadly felt pressure from a rise in oil prices. On a typical day, that could be the main driver of action on Wall Street. But little has been typical recently for the yo-yoing stock market.

The focus instead was on Nvidia’s stock. It plunged 14 per cent at the start of trading following the resignation of Jensen Huang, its CEO, co-founder and face of the brand. The chip company’s stock has been sinking since its board announced an investigation into Huang for a relationship with a woman suspected of being a Chinese government agent.

It’s a stunning fall for Huang and for Nvidia, which had become Wall Street’s most valuable and influential stock because of its central role in the AI boom. Its stock price set a record last month after soaring an astounding 1722 per cent in four years. That compares with the already healthy gain of nearly 109 per cent for the overall S&P 500 over the same time.

But Nvidia’s price dropped 27 per cent from then through Wednesday. At first, the drop was because of worries about excessively high prices for stocks across the AI industry.

More recently, it’s been due to worries about whether Huang would remain as CEO and how Nvidia would navigate a future without him. Nvidia’s board answered the first question Thursday morning, when it said Huang resigned, and it named chief financial officer Colette Kress as its interim CEO.

The second question remains unanswered. And it looms over the entire market because Nvidia and the broader AI industry have been the main reasons the US stock market has set so many records in recent years.

Nvidia, to be sure, is still selling AI chips at a quick rate regardless of who stands on a stage and talks them up, and analysts said it remains the industry’s leader. That helped Nvidia quickly halve its early loss on, and its stock finished with a fall of 4.3 per cent. That paring helped the broader market to recover.

With AP, Bloomberg

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