The Australian sharemarket opened lower on Friday, struggling to build on gains after a week of geopolitical tensions and a stronger-than-expected jobs report. The S&P/ASX 200 Index declined four points to 8844.70 by mid-morning, with six of the eleven sectors in negative territory. The benchmark index is on track to slip 0.7 per cent for the week, ahead of the Australia Day holiday. Earlier global optimism spurred by news of eased tensions between the US and Europe had little impact on the local market.
Financial stocks weighed on the index after strong gains the previous session. Commonwealth Bank fell 1.5 per cent, ANZ dropped 1.2 per cent, Westpac declined 0.9 per cent and National Australia Bank was down 0.6 per cent. Gold miners bucked the trend as the precious metal rose above $US4900 an ounce. Northern Star jumped 3.2 per cent, Evolution Mining climbed 6.1 per cent and Newmont increased 3.7 per cent.
Among individual stocks, Life360 surged 26.8 per cent after raising its full-year guidance. Life360 is a family tracking app provider. The US-based technology company expects full-year revenue to range between $US486 million and $US489 million ($715 million), up from its previous guidance of $US474 million to $US485 million, as its app approaches 100 million monthly active users. Elsewhere, Guzman y Gomez edged up 0.1 per cent following a multi-year delivery partnership with Uber Eats. Alcoa fell 1.7 per cent despite flagging rising production for alumina and aluminium businesses, with net income for 2025 surging to $US1.17 billion. Capstone Copper lost 3.3 per cent as striking workers disrupted its Mantoverde mine in Chile, temporarily halting sulphide production.
