The Australian sharemarket seesawed on Friday as strong gains in the miners offset losses in the real estate, technology, and retail sectors.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose above the psychological barrier of 8600 points in the opening minutes of trading on Friday but closed down 9.1 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 8580.10, with materials the only sector out of 11 in green.

The pullback came after Trump told NBC News he plans to impose blanket levies of 15 per cent or 20 per cent on most trading partners, above the current rate of 10 per cent, as well as threatening a 35 per cent duty on Canadian goods.

But the major miners cushioned the broader sharemarket as iron ore futures in Singapore rallied to a two-month high near $US100 a tonne. Improved Chinese CPI data released earlier in the week also helped. Rio Tinto rose 2.3 per cent to $111.10, BHP 2.8 per cent to $39.36, and Fortescue 2.9 per cent to $16.98.

“We’ve had a pretty hawkish week of tariff headlines – there’s still a lot of uncertainty out there, which is making it hard to get a firm grip above that 8600 mark,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.

“But it was about time the miners did some heavy-lifting. I’m not surprised given the Chinese CPI data was of a better ilk – it suggests some of those stimulus measures may be helping to break that consumer deflationary spiral we’ve been in the last few months.”

Rare earth stocks also surged after the US Department of Defence agreed to take a 15 per cent stake in US producer MP Materials, rocketing its shares up 50 per cent. On the ASX, Lynas rallied 16.7 per cent to $9.67 and fellow rare earths company Iluka Resources jumped 22.9 per cent to $4.89.

Lithium miners also advanced, with Pilbara Minerals up 1.6 per cent to $1.55, and Liontown rising 1.3 per cent to 81¢. IGO firmed 1.8 per cent to $4.60 after announcing it intends to withdraw from its Fraser Range joint venture with Carawine Resources, which fell 2.1 per cent.

The real sector fell back hard on Friday after gaining during the previous sessions, with Goodman Group down 1.8 per cent to $33.74,GPT 1.4 per cent to $5.01, Scentre 1.3 per cent to $3.70, Stockland 1.5 per cent to $5.41, Mirvac 1.8 per cent to $2.16, and Charter Hall 1.4 per cent to $19.13.

Tech stocks also came off amid heightened tariff concerns, with Xero easing 1.5 per cent to $173.83, TechnologyOne 2.5 per cent to $39.49, Life360 1.5 per cent to $32.30, and Zip 1.7 per cent to $2.86.

In New York, the benchmark closed up 0.3 per cent to 6280.46. It reached as high as 6290.22 during the session. Nvidia rose 0.8 per cent to finish at $US164.10 ($249.20), giving it a market cap of $US4 trillion.

In a social media post, Trump took credit for Nvidia’s push higher and pressed the Federal Reserve anew to “rapidly” lower interest rates.

In contrast, Sevens Report author Tom Essaye said Trump’s current tariff negotiation strategy could result in the Fed “delaying” a rate cut past September.

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, Johns Lyng leapt 22.6 per cent to $3.90 after announcing it had agreed to a $1 billion takeover deal by private equity group Pacific Equity Partners.

Ventia fell 1.9 per cent to $5.12 despite announcing it had secured an amendment to its new fibre upgrade contract with NBN, which is expected to add another $280 million in revenue over the next three to four years.

And Australian Strategic Minerals stocks jumped 8.4 per cent to 58¢ after it released a scoping study that removes more than $900 million from its Dubbo Project capital costs.