Australian shares post worst week in nearly a month as miners, energy drag

Viva Energy

04/09/2026 07:50

Updates to close
AXJO posted worst week in nearly a month
Miners logged worst week in 2 months
Banks reported best week in 2 months
By Aamir Khalid
Sept 4 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended little changed on Friday but posted their worst week in nearly a month, as losses in miners and energy stocks offset bank gains after dovish Fed remarks.
The S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO ended 0.2% lower at 9,005.90 points, posting its worst week since August 10. The benchmark gained 0.5% on Thursday.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said benign inflation data could strengthen the case for the Fed to keep rates on hold at its policy meeting later this month.
Cameron Curko, CIO of independent accounting firm Pitcher Partners, said the remarks were supportive of the Australian dollar because they reduced the likelihood of further U.S. rate hikes and made the U.S. dollar less attractive.
"AUD-positive moves are bad for export earners such as miners, healthcare names and some select others due to currency headwind."
Miners .AXMM fell 0.9%, their steepest weekly drop in two months, with BHP BHP.AX down 2.4% and Rio Tinto RIO.AX slipping 0.7%.
"There are more prosaic reasons with some of the majors trading ex-dividend e.g. BHP. Another factor might be higher energy costs weighing on medium term growth expectations," added Curko.
Energy stocks .AXEJ slipped 1.2%. Ampol ALD.AX and Viva Energy VEA.AX led losses on the sub-index, sliding 6% and 3.7%, respectively, as their shares traded ex-dividend.
Cushioning the broader losses, financials .AXFJ rose marginally higher, reporting its best week in two months, with all of the "Big Four" lenders trading higher.
Analysts at Capital Economics now expect Australia's central bank to deliver another 25-basis-point increase at its meeting later this month, citing economic growth and trimmed mean inflation that show little sign of slowing.
Tech stocks .AXIJ jumped 1%, Discretionary stocks .AXDJ and Real Estate stocks .AXRE gained 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively. 
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.9% to 13,974.18 points. 

 (Reporting by Aamir Sheik Khalid in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
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