Australian sharemarket secures longest winning streak as banks and tech stocks surge

Australia’s sharemarket completed its longest winning streak in nearly eight months on Friday, as the major banks, technology stocks and consumer staples all helped lift the index.

The benchmark ASX 200 closed 42.20 points higher or 0.48 per cent to 8,903.90 while the broader All Ordinaries added 42.50 points or 0.46 per cent to 9,226.70.

The ASX 200 closed on Friday at its highest level since October 2025.

Australia’s dollar also appreciated against the greenback to buy 67.05 US cents.

On a strong day of trading eight of the 11 shares finished higher, led by information technology, consumer staples and major banks.

NextDC shares jumped 3.50 per cent to $13, Megaport climbed 3.86 per cent to $12.39 and Weebit Nano ascended 3.15 per cent to $4.91.

Commonwealth Bank shares added 0.52 per cent to $154.30, Westpac climbed 1.82 per cent to $39.19, NAB shares closed 0.73 per cent higher to $42.67 and ANZ finished in the green up 0.54 per cent to $37.52.

Consumer staple shares also jumped, as Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates climbed 7.65 per cent to $5.49 and Endeavour Group jumped 3.14 per cent to $3.94.

Also helping to drive the ASX 200 higher were critical minerals and rare earth suppliers which continued their strong run throughout the week’s trading.

Capstone Copper Corp rallied 7.05 per cent to $15.63, while Austral Resources surged 19.05 per cent to $0.125 and Aeris Resources added 1.61 per cent to $0.63.

Betashares senior investment strategist Cameron Gleeson says a number of measures from the Trump administration continues to support producers of rare earths, copper, lithium and uranium.

“In fact, this latest move by the Trump Administration flags further policy measures that will only hasten the land grab for access to these important minerals and provide a strong long term tailwind for producers,” he said.

“Given the increasing importance of these critical minerals to the national security of the United States and elsewhere, it’s our view these supportive conditions will continue.”

Offsetting the strong run in commodity prices were safe haven assets which slid overnight on Friday.

The price of gold is trading lower at $4607, following silver’s sharp pullback yesterday after a four-day rally that delivered a remarkable 21 per cent gain.

In company news Australian Ethical were down 1.80 per cent to $4.90 after the fund manager announced its funds under management dropped 1 per cent to $14.08bn.

Oil producer Woodside shares fell 1.42 per cent to $23.68 as investors continued to sell down oil producers. The price of both Brent and West Texas Intermediate fell more than 4 per cent overnight due to easing tensions between the US and Iran.

James Hardie shares finished in the green up 2.03 per cent to $35.70 after telling the market it plans to shut down manufacturing facilities in California and South Carolina.