S&P 500 — US Large Cap Index
FTSE 100 — UK Blue Chips
Euro Stoxx 50 — Eurozone Leaders
DAX 40 — German Equities
CAC 40 — French Market Index
Nikkei 225 — Japan Benchmark
Hang Seng — Hong Kong Index
Shanghai Composite — China Mainland
ASX 200 — Australian Market
TSX Composite — Canada Index
Nifty 50 — India Large Cap
STI Index — Singapore Market
KOSPI — South Korea Index
Bovespa — Brazil Equities
JSE Top 40 — South Africa Index
IPC Index — Mexico Market
Australian shares fell 26 points or 0.3% to 8,813 around midday on Friday, unwinding gains from the prior three sessions following a plunge on Wall Street overnight amid a surge in oil prices and weak earnings from two major companies. Locally, June’s robust employment data raised prospects of another rate increase by the Reserve Bank, following three rate hikes this year. Caution also grew as Australia’s inflation for June and Q2 will be due next week, with concerns about inflationary pressures persisting. Most sectors were in the red, led by tech, consumer durables, and non-energy minerals. Mining giant BHP Group slipped 1.6%, along with gold stocks such as Northern Star Resources (-3.3%) and Evolution Mining (-2.9%). Still, local markets are on track to post their first weekly gain in three weeks, up around 0.2% so far, supported by signs of resilience in manufacturing and services activity during July, as highlighted by S&P flash PMIs.
