Stan Choe
Updated October 16, 2026 — 11:37am, first published October 16, 2026 — 5:20am
The Australian sharemarket pushed higher in early trade on Friday, led by a rally in mining and tech stocks, after US stock pulled closer to their records overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 86.3 points, or 1 per cent, at 8806 shortly before 11.30am AEDT, with gains for all 11 industry sectors bar financials and consumer staples. The strong morning comes after the local bourse slipped 0.1 per cent on Thursday. The Australian dollar traded at US69.22¢.
Wall Street’s benchmark index advanced after AI stocks recouped some of their early losses. AP The big mining heavyweights powered the early gains on the ASX, with copper and iron ore giants BHP and Rio Tinto climbing 2.8 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively – bouncing back from Thursday’s sell-off as bargain hunters stepped in, and further buoyed by a rebound for tech stocks, with copper being the physical backbone for AI companies.
Gold stocks jumped after bullion rose as much as 1.8 per cent to trade near $US4180 an ounce, recouping from the previous session’s losses, while silver also gained. US Treasury yields were down to the lowest in several weeks overnight after a tech-driven stocks rout had spurred haven demand. Lower yields typically push up gold, which suffers when bond yields rise as it pays no interest.
Amid the local go
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