ASX lifts despite US, China turmoil
The Australian sharemarket rose for a sixth straight trading session to start the month of May, thanks to a bounce in tech and property stocks, but there are some cracks emerging for Australia's major miners.
The Australian sharemarket rose by 19.40 points or 0.24 per cent to a new 20-day high of 8,145.60.
The broader All Ordinaries also rose by 24.70 points or 0.30 per cent to 8,365.70.
The Australian dollar slipped 0.34 per cent to US 63.90 cents. The ASX 200 closed higher for the sixth straight day. Picture NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard. Credit: News Corp Australia
Seven of the 11 sectors ended higher, with strong gains coming out of the information technology sector, which traded 3.94 per cent higher.
WiseTech Global led the way, soaring 6.61 per cent to $94.37, while tech darling Xero jumped 3.24 per cent a share and Life360 gained 3.14 per cent to $22.63.
The strong gains from the technology sector came off the back of US tech heavy Nasdaq adding 1.4 per cent following solid earnings reports from Microsoft and Meta after the close of the US market.
CBA continued its impressive run, nearing a record high up 0.39 per cent to $167.25 as the only big four bank to finish in the green.
Westpac is trading marginally lower at 0.061 per cent to $32.82, NAB fell 0.36 per cent to $36.00 and ANZ slumped 0.40 per cent to $29.74.
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said it was the calm before the storm, as the market continues its impressive pullback from the April 7 lows.
'In terms of where we are, the ASX 200 has had an impressive rebound but I don't think it has much more in it,' Mr Sycamore said.
'In terms of risks, it's stacked to the downside.'
The major miners fell, as fears of a recession were triggered overnight after the US economy shrank by 0.3 per cent for the first quarter of 2025, for its worst performance in three years. On a positive day for the market, seven of the 11 sectors finished in the green. Picture NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard. Credit: News Corp Australia
The fall came in anticipation of US President Donald Trump's tariff policy with importers rushing to get goods into the country ahead of likely taxes.
'The goods trade balance had a very unhealthy look about on front running tariffs,' Mr Sycamore.
'I find it amazing that we are looking at the positives of GDP data and front running tariffs. But nobody mentioned household spending was robust, but that was also likely due to the front running of tariffs.'
Meanwhile the second biggest economy China, also announced disappointing results of its own.
China National Bureau of Statistics Manufacturing PMI fell to 49 in April from 50.5, the largest in two years, which is starting to show the impact of tariffs.
Bourse heavyweight BHP slumped 0.94 per cent to $37.83 after the Singapore iron ore futures slumped 1.4 per cent to $96.05.
Rio Tinto fell 1.02 per cent to $115.90 while Fortescue metals declined marginally 0.062 per cent to $16.18. IT stocks were the major winner during Thursday's trading. NewsWire / Christian Gilles Credit: News Corp Australia
Weakness out of China the price of copper futures plunged 5.41 per cent to $4.60, and crude oil slipped 3.56 per cent to $58.28.
This saw Sandfire resources fall 0.80 per cent to $9.89 while Capstone Copper also dragged 1.29 per cent lower to $7.63.
Woodside Energy group is down 2.60 per cent to $20.20, and Santos fell 1.50 per cent to $5.92.
In company news Woolworths announced stronger sales growth from its supermarket division and flagged potential weakness out of its Big W stores.
Overall, for the three months ended 6 April, Woolworths reported a 3.2 per cent increase in group sales over the prior corresponding period to $17.3 billion. This was comfortably ahead of the estimate of $16.6 billion.
Shares in supermarket giant closed 1.17 per cent higher to $31.94 while Coles also climbed 1.27 per cent to $21.49, on positive sales growth announced on Wednesday.
Shares in Judo Bank plunged 16.9 per cent to $1.48 after the challenger bank announced lending growth would be slower than previous guidance.
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