Australian Shares Rise as Financials and Consumer Stocks Lead the Charge

2 min read | February 06, 2025 12:40 PM AEDT | By Team Kalkine Media

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Australian Shares Rise as Financials and Consumer Stocks Lead the Charge — Image source: shutterstock

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Highlights

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9%, boosted by financial and consumer discretionary stocks.

Gold and real estate stocks performed strongly, with gold reaching new highs.

Energy stocks underperformed as oil prices fell, and Beach Energy posted disappointing results.

Australian shares followed Wall Street's upward momentum on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 index climbing 0.9% to 8,490.7 points. This came after investor concerns over a potential global trade war eased, with financial and consumer discretionary stocks leading the gains.

Highlights:

S&P/ASX 200 Growth: The benchmark index rose 0.9%, building on a 0.5% increase from Wednesday.
Sector Performance: Financial stocks rose by 1.2%, while consumer discretionary stocks climbed 1.6%, led by Wesfarmers, which jumped 2.5%.
Mining and Gold Stocks: The mining index added 0.4%, while gold stocks soared to an all-time high, fueled by continued record-breaking gold prices.

U.S. Market Influence The positive sentiment in Australian markets mirrored overnight gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.71%, the S&P 500 gained 0.39%, and the Nasdaq increased by 0.19%. Investors appeared to look past recent comments from President Donald Trump regarding U.S. intentions in Gaza, as well as concerns over escalating trade tensions. These fears faded after China's measured response to Trump’s 10% tariffs.

Sector Leaders In Sydney, the financial sector led the way, with the “Big Four” banks rising between 1.2% and 1.8%. Consumer discretionary stocks also saw significant gains, with Wesfarmers jumping 2.5%. Meanwhile, real estate stocks also gained 1.6%.

Mining and Commodities The mining sector rose by 0.4%, with copper prices climbing to their highest level in more than a week. Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange also rose by 0.7%. Gold stocks saw a substantial increase of 2.2%, as gold prices continued their upward trajectory, reaching new highs.

Energy Stocks Lag Behind The only underperforming sector was energy, with oil prices falling more than 2% overnight, leading to a 0.6% drop in the energy sector.

Stock Moves

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) saw a sharp 4.6% drop after its half-year profit and dividend missed expectations, making it the top loser on the benchmark index.
PEXA Group (ASX:PXA) fell 4% after it raised its impairment loss forecast.
In contrast, News Corp (ASX:NWS) surged 4.5% after reporting strong second-quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations, making it the top gainer of the day.

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