The Australian market ended the trading session on Friday in positive territory with modest gains as traders evinced caution ahead of the second quarter GDP report in the US later in the day. With the domestic earnings season having ended with satisfactory results, traders preferred to adopt a wait and watch attitude amid increasing concerns about sustaining global economic recovery, and more importantly, avoiding possible double dip recession in the world's largest economy, the US. Positive trading in most of the neighboring markets also lifted market sentiment, despite steep losses in the previous session on Wall Street.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index advanced 14.10 points, or 0.32%, and closed at 4,370 points, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended at 4,404, representing a modest gain of 14.70 points, or 0.33%.
Light sweet crude oil futures for October delivery ended at $73.29 a barrel in electronic trading, down $0.07 per barrel from previous close at $73.36 a barrel in New York on Thursday.
Mixed trading was witnessed among the mining and metal stocks. BHP Billiton declined 0.24%, Rio Tinto slipped 0.30%, Mincor Resources shed 0.85%, and Murchison Metals lost 1.02%. Minara Resources ended unchanged from previous close. However, Fortescue Metals ended in positive territory with a gain of 1.78%, Gindalbie Metals advanced 0.56%, Macarthur Coal advanced 0.54% and Oz Minerals was up 0.42%.
Oil related stocks also witnessed mixed trading. Woodside Petroleum slipped 0.85% and ROC Oil lost 1.41%. However, Santos gained 1.63%, Oil Search advanced 0.53% and Origin Energy ended in positive territory with a gain of 0.07%.
Gold related stocks ended in negative territory. Lihir Gold declined 2.01% and Newcrest Mining was down 1.97%.
Banking stocks also ended mixed. ANZ Bank slipped 0.13% and investment banker Macquarie Group was down 0.79%. However, Commonwealth Bank of Australia advanced 0.47%, National Australia Bank added 0.17% and Westpac Banking climbed 0.93%.
In the U.S., Stocks saw steep losses on Thursday, as traders braced for a downward revision of second quarter GDP on Friday. Meanwhile, the day's better than expected reading on jobless claims was largely shrugged off as part of a recent wave of mixed economic reports. The Dow fell by 74.25 points or 0.7% to 9,986, the Nasdaq slid by 22.85 points or 1.1% to 2,119 and the S&P 500 declined by 8.11 points or 0.8% to 1,047.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.