Thanks afternoon crew. Never dull, this caper. Troubling end to the week. US futures look bleak, but this has been a buy-the-dip market since mid-April. Let's see how risk appetite holds up tonight.
End-of-day summary:
The Australian share market trimmed a fifth straight winning week after Israeli strikes against Iran triggered a steep fall in US stock futures.
The ASX 200 dropped 18 points or 0.21% on Friday afternoon to a second straight loss. Back-to-back declines cut the index's gain to 32 points or 0.37% for a week that climaxed on Wednesday with a fresh all-time high.
Oil jumped more than 8% and gold surged back towards record levels after Israel said it had struck more than 100 targets inside Iran connected to the regime's nuclear ambitions. The Israeli military later said Iran had launched more than 100 drones towards Israel in retaliation. Iran said a sixth round of negotiations with the US over its nuclear program scheduled this weekend would not proceed.
ASX energy companies, gold miners and defensive utility stocks rallied. Woodside Energy jumped 7.41%, Karoon Energy 10.89%, Capricorn Metals 7.02% and AGL Energy 3.94%. On the wider market, travel companies came under selling pressure.
S&P 500 futures were down 1.38% as the Australian market closed. Overnight, the US stock benchmark firmed 0.38% as mild inflation data encouraged traders to raise their bets on additional rate cuts this year.
