Weekly wrap: market comes out on top despite erratic Trump policies
WEEKLY MARKET REPORT
Despite continuing volatility caused by Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies, the Australian share market managed to close higher on Friday.
The ASX 200 rose 13 points or 0.2% to 7982 points at the market close, taking it to a 0.6% gain over the week.
That is the first time the market has managed to post two consecutive weeks of gains this year, with seven of 11 sectors higher.
D-day arriving for tariffs
With the US’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs now expected to be announced on April 2, the coming week will be a vital one on the share market as it reacts to the announcement and tries to guess the effect on economic growth and inflation.
The miners mainly moved up with shares in Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) up 1%, shares in BHP (ASX: BHP) up 0.1% with Fortescue (ASX: FMG) shares reversing early gains to end the day down 1.2%.
Perhaps buoyed by Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan to ramp up gas production and use more for generating electricity, the big gas players saw their shares lift with Santos (ASX: STO) up 1.6%, AGL (ASX: AGL) up 0.7% and Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS) up 0.9%.
Banks help market rise
The big four banks also did their bit to push the market higher, with Commonwealth Bank shares (ASX: CBA) up 0.3%, Westpac (ASX: WBC) up 0.8%, NAB shares (ASX: NAB) up 0.2% and ANZ shares (ASX: ANZ) up 0.5%.
While it was a good day for the market overall, technology stocks followed the Wall Street sell off to lose ground.
WiseTech (ASX: WTC) dropped 4.3% to $80.05 and shares in accounting software provider Xero (ASX: XRO) fell 2.1% to $155.86.
Heading in the other direction with shares in the defensive sectors of utilities and consumer staples, with the supermarket giants Coles (ASX: COL) and Woolworths (ASX: WOW) both adding more than 1%.
Gold stocks continue to rise
Gold miners enjoyed a particularly shiny day after the gold price notched a fresh record overnight, hitting $US3077.59 an ounce.
Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) jumped an impressive 6.9% to $2.47 while De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG) also jumped 4.3% to $2.17.
One of the worst performers was packaging group Orora (ASX: ORA) with its shares falling 8.4% to $1.80, after France’s competition regulator said it was probing its fairly recently acquired specialty wine bottle maker Saverglass as part of an investigation into anticompetitive practices.
Heading in the opposite direction after positive news were shares in Strickland Metals (ASX: STK), which jumped 25% to 10¢ after the gold explorer announced a fifth rig had started drilling at its Serbian mining site.
Heavy unseasonal rain in Namibia saw shares in uranium miner Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) fall 4.1% to $5.42 after the company retracted its 2025 production guidance because of the continuing wet weather.
Also hitting heavy weather were shares in Incitec Pivot (ASX: IPL), sliding 1.5% to $2.64 after weather caused delayed sales and output across its fertiliser and explosives businesses.
Incitec expects to make up that production in the second half.
Shares in Corporate Travel Management (ASX: CTD) dropped 3% to $14.52 after the chief executive of Australia and New Zealand, Greg McCarthy, stepped down following a seven-year stint.
Small cap stock action
The Small Ords Index slipped 0.45% for the week to close Friday at 3062.7 points.
ASX 200 vs Small Ords
The week ahead
It is a big week in Australian central banking with the RBA board expected to hold the cash rate steady at 4.1% on Tuesday.
However, that hold is not a total foregone conclusion, with some pundits still thinking there could be a surprise cut in official interest rates.
Jobs data to be released on Thursday will also be closely watched due to its possible effects on consumer spending and economic growth.
Combined with the quarterly inflation figures released on Friday, the jobs numbers should paint a fairly complete picture of how the economy is travelling.
Overseas, the main attraction is a series of job numbers in the US which should help traders to understand what affect president Trump’s tariff uncertainty is having in the jobs market, with unemployment set to edge upwards slightly.