The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has ended higher for the fourth straight session this week after opening marginally lower today (1 May).
The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 19.4 points, or 0.24%, at 8,145.6 points. The index has rallied 2.23% over the past five trading sessions and is little changed since the start of 2025.
While the broader market was up, energy and materials were not among the sectors ending in the green.
Energy slumped 1.35% largely due to sliding oil prices as a result of further supply hikes from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, while weak economic data out of China weighed on commodities, pushing materials down 0.84%.
Seven of the 11 sectors advanced on Thursday, with information technology the best performing on a one-day gain of 4.01% and a five-day jump of 8.77%. Industrials climbed 0.94%, while utilities dipped 0.13%.
Uranium producer Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) was one of the few miners to manage some gains, adding 7.26% to close at $3.40.
Meanwhile, on the down trend was Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) with a 6.73% retreat to $2.77, followed by lithium producer Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) after it fell 4.76% to $0.50.
Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) dropped 3.85% to $0.88, fellow gold miner West African Resources (ASX:WAF) slid 3.35% to $2.31 and Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) decreased 3.38% to $8.29.
Iron ore miners were also lower on weakening steel activity in China. Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) dropped 1.02% to $115.90, while BHP (ASX:BHP) declined 0.94% to $37.83.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX & iStock
