Australian shares rose on Friday, as strong iron ore prices lifted mining stocks, while investors exercised caution ahead of a key speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for policy cues on interest rate hikes.
Top policymakers are gathering for the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s annual monetary policy conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Powell is expected to offer clues on the central bank’s path to monetary tightening going forward later in the day.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6% to 7,090.5 by 0100 GMT. For the week, however, the benchmark is set to end a winning streak of five weeks and is down more than 0.3% this week.
Shares in Wesfarmers climbed 0.9%, after the retailer disclosed strong sales growth for its units in the new fiscal year so far.
Leading gains on the resource-heavy bourse, domestic miners added 0.8% on strong underlying iron ore prices.
The sub-index is on track for a sixth straight weekly gain, up about 1.8%. Shares in Lynas Rare Earths advanced 1.9%, after the miner posted a three-fold jump in annual profit.
Australian stocks end higher on broad-based gains
Mining trio Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals and BHP also advanced between 0.5% and 1.2%.
Heavyweight financials jumped 0.5%, with the country’s ‘Big Four’ banks rising between 0.1% and 0.5%.
The sub-index, however, is eyeing its worst week in 10, having lost more than 1.5%.
Bega Cheese added 7.5%, after the dairy firm posted a 17% jump in its annual profit over last year. Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.4% to 11,675.5.
The benchmark, however, lost 0.1% so far this week.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand earlier in the day cited that there will be at least another couple of rate hikes going forward.
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