ASX 200: -0.9% to 8,662 points (live values below)
Prices current around 4.36pm AEST
Live updates on the major ASX indices:
The Australian share market finished the week flat, with Trump's tariff hikes leaving investors more worried about the future of the global economy.
This was after some optimism earlier in the week about inflation trending down and leading to more rate cuts from the Reserve Bank.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.92% to 8,662 points.
ResMed shares reached a record high after the medical device-maker posted another solid quarter of earnings growth.
The company on Friday said it made $US1.35 billion ($2.09 billion) in revenue in the three months to June 30, up 10 per cent from $US1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) from the same time in 2024.
"The company delivered a good result with revenue, gross profit, income from operations and net income exceeding consensus expectations," RBC Capital Markets analyst Craig Wong-Pan told Reuters.
The surge in US tariffs still poses a significant threat to the global economy, according to AMP chief economist Shane Oliver.
"While worst case US trade war scenarios have been averted for now, the drag from US tariffs still adds to the case for more RBA rate cuts," he said.
Seoul's Kospi index has fallen heavily this session, currently 3.6 per cent, putting it on track for its worst fall since April.
It wasn't only the Trump administration's tariff news having an impact, with the so-called "reciprocal" tariff on South Korean imports to the US dropping to 15 per cent in a late deal.
Domestic news also affected stocks, with the South Korean government on Thursday announcing plans to roll back recently imposed tax cuts, such as those on corporate income and stock investments.
"It could have a critical impact on the sincerity of the administration's policy to revitalise the stock market and resolve the Korea Discount," said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
The 'Korea discount' refers to lower valuations for Korean companies when compared to global peers, which has been partly attributed to the dominance of family-owned conglomerates.
The Kospi is still up significantly since the start of 2025, however, gaining 30 per cent over the year to date:
Reporting with Reuters
The surge in US tariffs still poses a significant threat to the global economy," according to AMP chief economist Shane Oliver, who says the outcome will likely become more evident in the months ahead.
"Ultimately, a combination of more trade deals for those countries without deals and Trump being forced to back down in the face of market volatility and/or the economic impact are likely to see the tariffs settle around 15 per cent, but this may take a while."
He says for the time being, for Australia, confirmation that the general tariff stays at 10 per cent "is a relief".
"But its still up from 2 per cent or less at the start of the year and aluminium, steel and likely pharmaceuticals are still to be tariffed at higher rates," he notes.
"While this remains bad for industries affected, we remain of the view that the overall direct macroeconomic impact will be minor because our exports to the US are a very small share of our total goods exports (less than 5 per cent).
"Rather the main threat continues to come via the hit to global trade from the tariffs resulting in slower global growth and hence weaker demand for our exports generally.
"So, while worst case US trade war scenarios have been averted for now the drag from US tariffs still adds to the case for more RBA rate cuts."
Microsoft's market capitalisation has topped the $US4 trillion, with the tech giant joining chipmaker Nvidia as the only two publicly traded companies to hit the milestone.
AI played a bigger role in driving demand across internet search, digital advertising and cloud computing in the April-June quarter, powering revenue growth at technology giants Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet.
"As companies like Alphabet and Meta race to deliver on the promise of AI, capital expenditures are shockingly high and will remain elevated for the foreseeable future," Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, told Reuters.
But if their core businesses remain strong, "it will buy them more time with investors and provide confidence that the billions being spent on infrastructure, talent and other tech-related expenses will be worthwhile," she added.
Microsoft shares rose 4 per cent in US trade on Thursday, with the Windows maker crossing $US4 trillion in market value — a milestone only chip giant Nvidia had reached before it.
Meta was up even more, rising 11.3 per cent, and adding around $200 billion to its market value of about $US1.75 trillion.
Amazon slipped 7 per cent after-market, after rising 1.7 per cent in regular trading, on disappointing cloud computing results.
The Productivity Commission has called for a 20 per cent tax rate on profits for companies with revenue of up to $1 billion.
That would represent a significant cut for all but the largest companies from the current rate, which is 25 per cent for companies with turnover under $50 million and 30 per cent for all others.
At the same time, the commission has called for a new 5 per cent tax on net cashflow rather than profits, which could see some large companies pay a higher rate but would provide immediate tax relief for smaller companies seeking to build their capital.
But 24 business lobby groups have banded together to release a joint statement saying that the Productivity Commission proposal to tax business cashflow "is an experimental change that hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world".
"This tax increase risks putting more pressure on all Australians still struggling under cost-of-living pressures," it said.
"While some businesses may benefit under this proposal, it risks all Australian consumers and businesses paying more for the things they buy every day — groceries, fuel and other daily essentials."
In separate statements, Australian Industry Group warned "the proposals themselves suffer serious flaws and may well further distort our tax system".
"At face value the proposal has some attractions but as a whole the package fails the test of driving business investment across the economy," its CEO Innes Willox, said.
ACCI chief executive officer Andrew McKellar noted the proposal would only apply to a minority of small businesses, because most are not companies.
He also says the proposal risks creating a more complex two-tiered approach to business taxation.
“This proposal creates winners and losers and any net impact on productivity and competitiveness will be diminished as a result,” he said.
“While the idea of a net cashflow tax is worth considering, it has yet to be applied in practice and would result in a more complicated multi-layered business tax system."
Master Builders CEO Denita Wawn said they supported the proposed company tax cut, but that "further work will be required to assess the short, medium and long-term implications of pivoting to a combined company income and cashflow tax system for the building and construction industry".
Read more about the Productivity Commission proposal here:
Shares in Resmed touched a record level earlier today, and while they've pulled back from those highs, they remain up by 1.7 per cent.
It follows the medical sleep device maker's profit results, which came in ahead of analysts' forecasts.
Analysts at Jarden described the result as impressive, while RBC Capital Markets analysts called it a "good result with revenue, gross profit, income from operations and net income exceeding consensus expectations".
Capital Economics China economist Leah Fahy says they "remain fairly sanguine" on the Trump tariff impact on China's exports.
The Trump administration has announced that transshipped goods will be subject to a 40 per cent tariff instead of the regular reciprocal rates.
This, Ms Fahy notes, will stack on top of any other tariffs applicable to the true country of origin.
"In theory then, Chinese goods transshipped via Vietnam will be subject to an average tariff rate of ~70 per cent — the combination of a 40 per cent transshipment tariff, 20 per cent fentanyl tariffs and a 10 per cent baseline that predates Trump's second term," she said in a research note.
"That would be substantially higher than Vietnam's 20 per cent reciprocal rate and the ~40 per cent average tariff on direct Chinese exports to the US.
"Our new estimates based on trade in thousands of individual products suggest that rerouting helped to offset around half of the fall in China’s exports to the US during the first Trump trade war. If the US continues to impose high tariffs on China, despite Wednesday’s court ruling, then rerouting is likely to be just as significant this time.
"While yesterday’s court order requires that all US reciprocal tariffs and the 20 per cent fentanyl tariffs on China are removed, we doubt the tariff threat to China has gone away.
"Even if the Trump administration fails to overturn the ruling on appeal, it will likely look to levy tariffs on China through other means."
But she says the upshot for China is that, while its exports to the US will fall sharply if tariffs come back into place, rerouting is still likely to provide a significant offset.
A quick check in on how the local share market is tracking at lunchtime — the ASX 200 is down 0.7 per cent, so off the early lows but still firmly in the red.
Here's how the sectors are faring, with the mining stocks doing some heavy lifting in terms of capping the losses:
The best performing stocks so far:
And the worst:
Outside the biggest companies, shares in Star Entertainment Group have slumped 15 per cent as it revealed its deal to sell off its Brisbane casino development has collapsed and it owes millions to its Hong Kong-based joint venture partners as a result.
You can read more here:
Australian property prices have scaled new record highs as demand for housing offsets buyer concerns about the Reserve Bank's shock call to hold interest rates steady.
National dwelling values rose 0.6 per cent last month, marking the sixth consecutive monthly increase, according to figures from property research firm Cotality (formerly CoreLogic).
The median home value is now $844,000, an increase of 3.7 per cent in a year.
"That [growth] started with the cash rate being reduced in February," said Eliza Owen, head of research at Cotality.
"Overall, it's taken home values about 3 per cent higher through the year to date, or the equivalent of another $25,000 being added to the median dwelling value in Australia.
"And we're seeing these gains right across the country now."
Here's how the capitals and regions fared in July:
Read more from reporter Rhiana Whitson: