The ASX opened lower on Friday (11 October), but gold miners escaped the downward pull, with three of the top five active in the popular sector.
The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 14.10 points, or 0.17%, to 8,208.90 at 10.36am AEDT, with 10 of the 11 sectors in the red.
The Australian bourse followed US markets down after weekly jobless claims reached the highest point in a year. Inflation numbers were also slightly firmer than expected, and Atlanta Federal Reserve president Raphael Bostic pointed to a potential pause in interest rate cuts.
Materials was down 0.31% in early trade, followed by utilities with a 0.18% edge back. Industrials was down 0.10%. Energy was the outlier with a 0.04% tick up.
Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) climbed 2.90%, De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) was up 2.89% and Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) advanced 2.46%.
The gold price closed up 0.93% at around US$2,633 ($3907) on Thursday (10 October).
Over the last five days, the S&P/ASX200 Index has gained 0.72% and is 0.93% off of its 52-week high.
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 & Stock
