SYDNEY MARKET: ASX 200 edges up, Kospi surges 14% higher

2 hours ago

(AWP Alliance News) - Stocks in Sydney rose on Friday and confidence returned to the artificial intelligence trade across the Asia Pacific region.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that in the second quarter of 2026, the final demand producer price index rose 1.3% quarter-on-quarter, accelerating from 0.4% in the previous quarter.

The reading surpassed the 0.3% consensus forecast cited by FXStreet.

"After moderating growth in previous quarters, the index was driven by increased energy prices, particularly for crude oil, petrol, and diesel. These increases were linked to supply disruptions resulting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for much of the June quarter 2026," ABS explained.

The S&P/ASX 200 was up 32.50 points, 0.4%, at 9,000.20 on Friday afternoon.

Shares insurance stocks slumped.

QBE Insurance fell 2.8%, Insurance Australia fell 1.9%, Suncorp lost 1.7%, and Medibank lost 0.5%.

Other losers included CSL with shares down 4.4%, while Champion Iron and WiseTech Global both lost 6.0%.

Gold miners gained during the session.

Newmont climbed 3.6%, Evolution Mining rose 3.2%, Capricorn Metals gained 2.5%.

Capricorn Metals reported record annual gold production with a 5.6% increase to 123,589 ounces in the year ended June 30 from 117,076 ounces a year prior, achieving the upper end of the guidance range of 115,000 to 125,000 ounces.

However, shares in Catalyst Metals fell 0.4% after the company said Plutonic gold production grew 17% to 31,886 ounces in the three months to June 30 from 27,317 ounces a year ago.

Fortescue fell 3.3%.

Fortescue said total ore mined rose 3.0% to 246.0 million wet metric tonnes in the financial year ended June 30 from 238.9 million wmt a year earlier.

Web Travel faces class action proceedings filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria by Slater & Gordon on behalf of shareholders who acquired shares between March 21, 2024 and October 13, 2024.

The statement of claims against the business-to-business organisation servicing the travel industry alleges contraventions relating to misleading or deceptive conduct and continuous disclosure obligations regarding total transaction value margin representations.

Web Travel shares were up 2.0%.

Web Travel said: "The company believes that it has complied with its continuous disclosure and regulatory obligations and intends to vigorously defend the the proceeding."

Around midday in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 2,704.82 points, 4.4%, at 64,572.25 on Friday.

The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark policy rate at 1.0% on Friday and according to the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the jobless rate held steady at 2.5% in June from May.

Both readings matched the consensus forecast cited by FXStreet.

Separately, the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry said industrial production rose 4.2% year-on-year in June, reversing a 2.1% decline in May. Retail sales growth slowed to 0.5% year-on-year in June from 5.0% in the previous month, METI also reported.

Panasonic jumped 20%, Murata Manufacturing climbed 16%, SoftBank Group gained 15%.

Fujitsu fell 9.4%, Nintendo lost 5.4%.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 28.68 points, 0.8%, at 3,833.38. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 17.32 points, 0.1%, at 25,841.56. The FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index was up 3,100.03 points, 8.3%, at 40,276.47.

Alibaba gained 6.1%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was 7.9% higher.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said the manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell into contraction territory at 49.2 points in July, down from 50.3 points in June.

In Seoul, the Kospi rose 773.70 points, 14%, at 6,367.26. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was down 52.74 points, 0.9%, at 5,620.84. Over in Mumbai, the Nifty 50 was up 66.95 points, 0.3%, at 24,317.15.

Samsung Electronics was 20% higher, SK Hynix was up 18%.

Brent oil was quoted down at USD88.00 a barrel early in London on Friday from USD89.91 around the same time a day earlier. West Texas Intermediate fell to USD82.21 a barrel from USD83.24.

Gold was quoted up at USD4,077.00 an ounce from USD4,070.92.

The dollar weakened against the yuan to CNY6.7450 from CNY6.7605, against the yen to JPY160.55 from JPY163.46, and against the Australian dollar to AUD1.4234 from AUD1.4367.

The euro meanwhile strengthened to USD1.1511 from USD1.1454, while the pound strengthened to USD1.3450 from USD1.3351.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.65%, narrowing from 4.69%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.20%, narrowing from 5.21%.

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2%, the S&P 500 up 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.8%.

IG says futures indicate London's FTSE 100 and Frankfurt's DAX 40 will both open 0.4% higher on Friday, with the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.5%.

Still to come on Friday's economic events calendar is an update on Hong Kong's gross domestic product, Singapore's business confidence and the US employment cost index.

By Elijah Dale, Alliance News senior reporter Asia-Pacific

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