Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 falls 0.5% at Friday’s close
Key Facts
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.5% on Friday, November 6, according to the Associated Press, in a session that formed part of a broader decline across Asian markets. The drop coincided with sharp losses in U.S. stocks in the previous session, with pressure extending to Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.9% to 24,567.97 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.1% to 3,648.94 points, the news agency reported. With that move, Australian stocks faced regional pressure after a sell-off in U.S. technology shares linked to artificial intelligence. The Associated Press linked the sell-off to financing concerns and sector valuations, without attributing the Australian index’s move to a single domestic cause.
Wall Street’s losses on Thursday, November 5, were deeper than the Australian index’s decline at Friday’s close: the U.S. S&P 500 fell 4.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also lost 1,833 points, or 3.4%, according to the Associated Press. The news agency said investors were concerned that high borrowing costs could slow the construction of artificial intelligence data centers. It also reported criticism that AI companies’ share prices had risen too far, amid fears that the sector could be entering a bubble. It added that Democratic election victories in the U.S. increased the likelihood that governments would impose a temporary pause on building more data centers. This context places the decline in Australian stocks within a regional sell-off that followed widespread turmoil in U.S. equities.
Domestically, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the goods trade balance improved in September, with the surplus rising to 2,826 million Australian dollars from 184 million in August. The seasonally adjusted goods trade surplus increased by 2,642 million Australian dollars in September, according to the bureau’s table. The bureau attributed the increase in exports to other mineral fuels and metals excluding non-monetary gold. Imports, meanwhile, fell by 1,551 million Australian dollars, or 3.3%, driven by declines in non-monetary gold, civil aircraft and confidential items. These figures provide a picture of merchandise trade during the month, alongside the decline in equities during Friday’s session. The next update to the trade data is due on December 3, 2026, and will cover October.
Monetary policy is another domestic backdrop markets are watching after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.85% on November 4. The bank had raised the rate to 4.60% on September 30, according to its decision record. Governor Michele Bullock said the tightening was aimed at domestic capacity pressures, adding that these pressures “were evident before the rise in oil prices.” In its forecasts published in November, the bank projected headline and core inflation would remain above 3% until late 2027. It also forecast inflation would reach the midpoint of its 2–3% target range in mid-2028. The bank further projected that headline inflation would peak at 4.5% in the December quarter of 2026, with its path affected by higher fuel prices, conflict-related goods and capacity pressures.