Aussie shares reach new heights as gains continue
Near midday on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 59.4 points to 8,698.4, a gain of 0.69 per cent, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 58 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 8,948.9.
The S&P/ASX 200 had also surpassed 8700 for the first time, after the index record was already broken twice this week.
Jason Todd, CEO of Australian equities fund Ten Cap, expects equities to continue rising through the second half of 2025.
"From an equity perspective, whether it is international or domestically, we think the market will be meaningfully higher by year end," he said.
"If you're not long, you need to get long, and we think you just stay long until (and if) we see these risks amplify."
Ten Cap co-founder Jun Bei Lui expected mid and small cap companies to have an even better year than some of their large counterparts.
BHP led the way for miners on Friday after 2025 record hauls were set for iron ore and copper, climbing 2.31 per cent.
Rio Tinto also rose 0.97 per cent, along with Fortescue lifting 0.71 per cent.
Shares rose 18.1 per cent for local graphite miner Syrah Rose after the US imposed steep tariffs on Chinese graphite imports
Mesoblast shares climbed more than 30 per cent after the Melbourne biotech company announced it had made $US13.2 million in sales, following the launch of its stem-cell treatment for a complication of bone marrow transplants in children in March.
The CBA was the only big four to hit the red, falling 0.22 per cent. NAB rose 0.31 per cent, while Westpac added 0.5 per cent and ANZ increased 0.16 per cent.
The Australian dollar was trading for 65.07 US cents, from 64.71 US cents.
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