ASX set for gains as Wall Street rises on jobs surprise
The S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent and set an all-time high for the fourth time in five days. The Dow Jones added 344 points, or 0.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1 per cent.
The Australian sharemarket is set to rise, with futures at 4.53am AEST pointing to a rise of 26 points, or 0.3 per cent, at the open. The ASX closed flat on Thursday. The Australian dollar is weaker. It was 0.2 per cent lower at 65.69 US cents at 5.14am.
The market's gains were widespread, and companies whose profits can get the biggest boosts when workers are feeling confident helped lead the way. Expedia climbed 3.2 per cent, and Norwegian Cruise Line steamed 2.9 per cent higher.
Bank stocks were also strong, with Citigroup up 2.3 per cent, and JPMorgan Chase up 1.9 per cent.
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The reaction was bigger in the bond market following the report from the US government, which said employers added 147,000 more jobs to their payrolls last month than they cut. The unexpected acceleration in hiring signals the US job market is holding up despite worries about how President Donald Trump's tariffs may hurt the economy and inflation.
'There is nothing to complain about here,' according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. 'You cannot find any evidence of a nascent recession in these figures.'
A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication of easing layoffs.
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At noon on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 14.2 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 8,610.0 - less than 30 points from its all-time intraday high set three weeks ago, and on track to finish the week 1.1 per cent higher than where it began. The broader All Ordinaries was up 13.7 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 8,847.3. The gains follow another record-setting day on Wall Street, where the S&P500 and the Nasdaq Composite hit new records after the June non-farm payrolls report showed US employment rising more than expected. analyst Kyle Rodda said that while the readout had all but extinguished the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in July, stocks had still reacted positively on relief that the US economy was holding up strongly despite risks from US trade policy and tariffs. Nine of the ASX's 11 sectors were in the green at midday, with energy and materials lower. Tech was the biggest gainer, rising 1.3 per cent. Xero had climbed 1.9 per cent, Life360 had advanced 2.5 per cent and Wisetech Global was up 1.2 per cent. In the financial sector, CBA was down 0.8 per cent to $178.27, on track for its sixth day of declines out of the past seven sessions since Australia's most valuable company hit an all time-high of $192 on June 25. The other big four were all in the green, with ANZ up 0.6 per cent, Westpac adding 0.5 per cent and NAB gaining 0.4 per cent. In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP had declined 1.6 per cent, Rio Tinto had subtracted 1.7 per cent and South32 had dropped 2.3 per cent. The Australian dollar was buying 65.68 US cents, from 65.69 US cents at midday on Thursday.
