Best week of the year: ASX jumps on tariff talk
The Australian sharemarket posted its best week of the year after reports emerged US President Donald Trump is looking to soften his tariffs on China.
The benchmark ASX 200 index finished up 47.70 points or 0.60 per cent to 7,968.20.
The broader All Ordinaries also rose 49.90 points or 0.61 per cent to finish the trading week at 8,175.10.
The Aussie dollar is trading around US63.55 cents.
On an overall positive day for the markets, eight of the 11 sectors finished in the green, led by health care and material stocks.
Australia's market along with much of Asia rose on the back of renewed hopes of a softening in the tariff war between the US and China.
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Shares jumped after reports of US will back down from its aggressive tariff policy. NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers
Credit: News Corp Australia
Mr Trump previously added tariffs on every trading partner starting at 10 per cent, with China facing the highest rates of 145 per cent.
Overnight, reports emerged Mr Trump would downgrade these tariffs to 50 to 65 per cent lifting world markets.
Commonwealth Bank director mining and energy commodities Vivek Dhar said the price of iron ore has risen on the back of US-China trade talks and strengthening seasonal demand for the commodity.
'Iron ore spot prices rose back above $US100 per tonne this week on stimulus hopes in China and as US President Trump said he's willing to 'substantially' pare back tariffs on China,' he said.
This helped support the major miners. BHP shares jumped 0.90 per cent to $28.06, Rio Tinto traded higher up 0.96 per cent to $114.92 and Fortescue Metals rose 1.04 per cent to $15.52.
Mineral Resources had the strongest day among the miners, up 5.93 per cent to $18.23.
It was also a strong day trading for the big four banks.
Westpac added 1.1 per cent to $32.04 and ANZ jumped 1.55 cent to $28.84. Commonwealth Bank was up 0.6 per cent to $164.72 after a strong run this week and NAB also added 0.6 per cent to $35.11.
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Eight of the 11 sectors finished in the green. NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers
Credit: News Corp Australia
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said while equity markets responded positively to the overnight headlines, investors appeared to have glossed over comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said discussions with China have not commenced.
'With only three trading sessions remaining, the ASX200 is up 1.5 per cent in April, on track to snap a two-month losing streak,' he said.
'This is a remarkable outcome after being down over 8.5 per cent earlier in the month.'
Uranium stocks also enjoyed a strong day of trading, with three of them making up the top 5 on the ASX 200.
Paladin Energy continued its surge higher on strong results released earlier in the week up 12.09 per cent to $5.560. Deep Yellow jumped 9.62 per cent to $1.025 and Boss Energy rose 8.42 per cent to $2.830.
In company news, sleep disorder company ResMed surged 8.51 per cent to $36.08 on the back of improving revenue.
The newly listed Generation Develop Group slumped on its quarterly earnings update down 14.85 per cent to $4.13.
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