Local shares holding up against US bank scares

The local market has been trading basically flat, holding up against re-emerging banking issues in the United States.

At noon AEST on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 4.2 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 7,197.

The broader All Ordinaries was down 3.1 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 7,391.

Wall Street fell for the third consecutive day as turmoil in the regional banking sector weighs on sentiment.

CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng says the banking jitters might strengthen bets for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates as early as July.

The US Reserve Bank hinted on Thursday its hike of 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent could be its final increase.

The RBA released its Statement on Monetary Policy on Friday but analysts expect the detailed breakdown of updated forecasts is unlikely to influence the market given Governor Philip Lowe spoke to the snapshot earlier this week.

"Inflation has passed its peak in Australia but remains very high," the RBA said at the start of the report.

"Some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable time frame."

The financials sector is clawing back from its losses on Thursday, down by 0.03 per cent with performance by the major banks a mixed bag.

ANZ announced on Friday its half-year net interest income increased by 20 per cent to $8.5 billion from a year ago, driven by higher average net loans.

Its deposits and other borrowings increased by 8.0 per cent to $843 billion.

The banking group was up 1.2 per cent to $23.75 and Westpac by 0.7 per cent to $21.39.

NAB continues its performance in the red, down 1.1 per cent to $26.43, while CBA was almost flat at noon, down by 0.02 per cent to $95.74.

Macquarie Group also reported its net profits increased by 10 per cent to $5.18 billion but was down at noon by 0.6 per cent to $176.65.

The materials sector was also down at noon by 0.2 per cent, but Ms Teng says oil and gold prices bounced in the US sessions overnight.

"Oil finished flat, as the crude oil may have been oversold in the last few sessions," she said in a statement.

Gold pulled back from a session high despite rising for the third straight trading day as the metal faced technical resistance near its all-time high level of $US2,070, Ms Teng said.

BHP was down 0.8 per cent to $42.62, Rio Tinto by 0.9 per cent to $109.15, and Fortescue Metals by 1.1 per cent to $20.06.

The property trusts sector performed best, up by 1.1 per cent alongside the health-care sector by 0.37 and utilities by 0.4 per cent.

CSL was up by 0.75 per cent to $302.36 in health while the Goodman Group was up by 1.0 per cent to $19.61 in real estate.

The Australian dollar was buying 67.13 US cents, from 66.73 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.

The latest US labour market report is set to be released Friday night, with expectations the Aussie dollar will become more volatile.