Mining giant BHP has led the Australian stock exchange to an all-time high, following record hauls for iron ore and copper production.
Near midday on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 59.4 points to 8,698.4, a gain of 0.69 per cent, while the broader All Ordinaries had gained 58 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 8,948.9.
The S&P/ASX200 then surpassed 8700 for the first time, adding to the two record highs broken earlier this week.
It was trading at 8,734 points at 1pm AEST, after peaking around 8,744.
Jason Todd, CEO of Australian equities fund Ten Cap, expects local equities to continue rising through the second half of 2025.
“From an equity perspective, whether it is international or domestically, we think the market will be meaningfully higher by year-end,” he said.
“If you’re not long, you need to get long, and we think you just stay long until (and if) we see these risks amplify.”
Ten Cap co-founder Jun Bei Lui expected mid and small cap companies to have an even better year than some of their large counterparts.
BHP led the way for miners on Friday after setting 2025 record hauls for iron ore and copper, as its shares climbed 2.31 per cent.
Rio Tinto also rose 0.97 per cent, along with Fortescue, which gained 0.71 per cent.
Shares rose 18.1 per cent for local graphite miner Syrah Rose after the US imposed steep tariffs on Chinese graphite imports
Mesoblast shares climbed more than 30 per cent after the Melbourne biotech company announced it had made $US13.2 million in sales, following the launch of its stem-cell treatment for a complication of bone marrow transplants in children in March.
Commonwealth Bank was the only big four bank to hit the red, falling 0.22 per cent. National Australia Bank rose 0.31 per cent, while Westpac added 0.5 per cent and ANZ increased 0.16 per cent.
The Australian dollar was trading for 65.07 US cents, from 64.71 US cents.
Source: AAP