Australia shares end lower in choppy trade after Trump-Xi call; log fourth week of gains
Australian banks gain for a fourth week
ASX 200 mirrors banks' trajectory
Technology stocks end 0.7% lower
Whitehaven up after MS affirms rating
June 6 - Australia shares capped four straight weeks of gains with minor declines in choppy trade on Friday after a call between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping left key issues unresolved, weighing on sentiment.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.3% lower at 8,515.70 points.
Trump and Xi locked horns in a rare leader-to-leader phone call on Thursday. Trump later said on social media that they had made a breakthrough in matters related to rare earth minerals, although neither confirmed the issue had been resolved.
There would be further low-level U.S.-China discussions, the U.S. President added.
Despite no concrete progress being made overnight, communication out of both camps is that talks are progressing, said Luke Winchester, a portfolio manager at Merewether Capital.
Miners rose in early trading, later trimming gains to close 0.2% lower. China, the world's top consumer of metals, is Australia's biggest export partner.
The domestic financial index slipped 0.4% in muted trading, their second straight session of losses, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ Group leading declines with 0.8% and 0.4% fall, respectively.
However, the sub-index gained for a fourth straight week, ending 2.4% higher, on hopes of further easing boosting lending volumes.
Technology stocks led losses on the local bourse with a 0.7% decline, tracking U.S. peers, after an escalating public feud between Elon Musk and Trump knocked down Tesla stocks 14%.
Energy stocks ended 0.7% higher, led by advances in coal miners. Whitehaven Coal rose 3.6% after Morgan Stanley maintained its "overweight" rating, citing expected operational improvements and cost-cutting efforts.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped marginally to finish the session at 12,563.48 points.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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