Market Wrap / soft start

Investor sentiment soured in the first week of September with the S&P/ ASX 200 losing 1.1% over the five days, its worst weekly performance since March.

After bouncing back yesterday the market added to those gains to finish Friday up 0.5% at 8871.20 points as it tracked Wall Street higher amid growing expectations of a Fed cut. Tech was one of the best performing sectors with Life360 up 3.5%. The REITs also performed well, led by Mirvac, along with Consumer Discretionary stocks such as Myer which rose 2.4%. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Albanese revealed he's had a chat to US President Trump with critical minerals being the main topic of conversation. Yet, Lynas Rare Earths was still 3% lower this Friday, but Peak Rare Earths hit a two-year high on a higher takeover offer .

Gold stocks continued to follow the price of bullion higher, led by Regis Resources, which rose 0.9%. In company news, Orica flagged a strong finish to the financial year after reporting a first-half loss in May, with shares up 1.2%. And shares in Vulcan Energy climbed 8.4% as it secured a key contract for its lithium project. Tonight, all eyes will be on the US nonfarm payrolls report ahead of the Fed decision in less than two weeks. Next week, CSL, Medibank, Brambles and WiseTech are among the stocks trading ex-dividend.