ASX slides as Iran-Israel tensions send oil prices higher

News.com.au

a day ago

The Australian sharemarket fell slightly during Friday's trading as fears of the fallout between Israel and Iran resulted in a broad sell-off on the market and investors rush to safe havens including gold.
The benchmark ASX200 index closed down 17.70 points or 0.21 per cent to finish the week at 8,547.40.
The broader All Ordinaries also traded lower falling 25.40 points or 0.29 per cent to 8,770.60.
The Australian dollar slipped 0.85 per cent and is now buying 64.72 US cents.
On a day dominated by geopolitical tensions, the market had a spike in volatility with strong gains in the energy, utilities and gold miners offset by falls in information technology, healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks.
Overall, just three of the 11 sectors gained during Friday's trading.
One of the bright spots was the energy sector as the price of crude oil jumped to nearly $US75 a barrel on the back of political tensions between Israel and Iran which helped drive Australia's energy stocks higher.
Israel has said the preâ€'emptive attacks were aimed at eliminating Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities, but the fears in the market are based on what Iran will do as a retaliation to these strikes.
If it hits neighbouring oilfields or blocks the Strait of Hormuz, which controls 20 per cent of the world's oil consumption, the price of the commodity could skyrocket.
Woodside Energy shares soared 7.4 per cent to $25.21, Santos traded higher gaining 3.73 per cent to $6.96 and Beach Energy gained 2.77 per cent to $1.30.
There was also a flight to safety, with the price of gold jumping back to $US3,400 an ounce.
This helped drive Northern Star up 5.1 per cent to $22.53 as well as Evolution Mining, which rose 5.5 per cent to $9.20.
It was also a mixed day for the major banks. Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.65 per cent to $179.35, NAB fell 0.31 per cent to $38.87 and ANZ dropped 0.54 per cent to $29.63.
Westpac was the outlier eking out a tiny gain of 0.03 per cent to $33.36.
Despite the strong moves on the market, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver urged a sense of caution.
'Just bear in mind that tensions regularly flare up in the Middle East, escalate for a while and then settle back down again so there is a danger in getting too negative on it and the key for investors is to look for the opportunities that the latest conflict may throw up,' he wrote in an economic note.
Even with the falls, Dr Oliver said the Australia market still finished in the green.
'Despite falling on Friday after Israel's attack, Australian shares bucked the global trend and are on track for a gain of around 0.3 per cent for the week after having hit a record high midweek with the gains led by energy, utility property and consumer stocks,' he said.
In corporate news, shares in Cettire continued its falls, dropping another 20.3 per cent to $0.26 a share, after slumping 31 per cent during Thursday's trading.
The fall in the online luxury retailer comes after it issued a second profit downgrade in the last few months.
Accent group also had a day to forget, with shares dropping 21 per cent to a year low of $1.43 after annoying a disappointing post Christmas trading period.
The Platypus and HypeDC owner said sales for the 23 weeks until June 8 are down 1 per cent and is now expecting an EBIT of between $108m to $11m for the financial year.