By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 was higher in Friday’s mid-morning deals, adding 38.40 points or 0.56% to 6,876.70, posting its first positive performance in five consecutive sessions and lifting from 9-month lows amid broad-based gains as investor seek to buy up discounted stocks.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.68% lower.
Among stocks, the Materials sector was 0.4% higher as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 2.11%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 2.23%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lifted 1.69%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) gained 6.86% and Magnis Resources Ltd (ASX:MNS) added 2.15%. However, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) lost 2.22%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) fell 2.2%, Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) dipped 1.16% and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) lost 5%.
Gold miners were lower, with Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) losing 6.4% after it posted its quarterly production report, while Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) fell 2.4%, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) lost 2.7% and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) fell 5.9%.
Financials were mixed, with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 0.73%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) losing 0.15%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) down 0.17%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) falling 0.88% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) losing 0.79%.
Technology was the main drag on the bourse, down 0.8% as Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) lost 10.3%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) dropped 1.39%, Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) fell 0.8%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) lost 2.45%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) shed 1.1%, Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) lost 3.32% and Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) fell 2.22%.
Meantime, software giant Atlassian Corp Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM) popped 9.94% in after hours trade in the U.S. after a stronger than expected earnings report.
Among currencies, the Aussie was little changed at 7-week lows of 0.70316, while the US Dollar Index lifted 0.7% to 8-month highs of 97.204.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 1.958% while United States 10-Year yields held near 2-year highs of 1.816%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 0.62% to 11,976.