Australian Market Jumps on Oil Price Surge, Wall Street Falls on Surprise Jobs Report

The Australian sharemarket kicked off the week on a high note, led by energy stocks as oil prices surged due to escalating Middle East tensions. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 33.4 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 9039.3 in early trade.

Energy stocks such as Woodside Energy and Santos advanced 1 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, while refiners Ampol and Viva Energy each gained 0.5 per cent. The iron ore heavyweights BHP, Fortescue, and Rio Tinto also rose by 0.5 per cent, 0.4 per cent, and 0.4 per cent respectively.

However, gold miners Northern Star and Evolution Mining fell 1 per cent and 1.4 per cent in early trade as the price of gold weakened due to the surprise payrolls data making a US interest rate hike more likely. Financial stocks were mixed, with Commonwealth Bank up 0.4 per cent and National Australia Bank edging up 0.1 per cent.

In the US, Wall Street fell following the release of the jobs report, which showed employers unexpectedly added 162,000 jobs last month. The S&P 500 index dropped 0.4 per cent, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq composite indices fell 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.

The strong jobs market has increased expectations for a rate hike in September to 60.4 per cent from 49.4 per cent on Thursday. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh noted that inflation had not shown sufficient improvement, and the central bank might have 'more work to do.'