The Australian stock market has opened flat, with gains by the two big miners offset by weakness among healthcare companies and major retailers.
Macquarie Private Wealth division director Lucinda Chan said investors were absorbing the latest announcements from the Bank of Japan and looking ahead to an important US employment report.
“This week has been a heavy one for economic data and people are just trying to digest a lot of that,” Ms Chan said.
“It’s a bit flat.”
The BoJ said after the Australian market closed on Thursday it would expand its bond purchasing program in a bid to lift inflation in Japan to two per cent within two years, from an environment of persistent deflation currently.
Meanwhile, US non-farm payrolls figures for March were due out on Friday night (AEDT).
On the market, mining stocks, which have been hit hard during the past couple of days, rose in early trade.
BHP Billiton was among the better performers, having risen 54 cents, or 1.7 per cent, to $32.29, while Rio Tinto had advanced 90 cents, or 1.65 per cent, to $55.50.
Gold stocks were the best-performing sector at the open, rising 2.26 per cent.
On a negative note, supermarket chain Woolworths fell 15 cents to $40.31 while Coles owner Wesfarmers slipped 34 cents to $34.07.
Healthcare stocks were down 0.61 per cent and the worst-performing sector in morning trade.
The local market looked past a positive lead from Wall Street, where the Dow finished up 0.38 per cent and the S&P500 advanced 0.4 per cent.
KEY FACTS
* At 1030 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 1.1 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 4,914.6 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 2.6 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 4,921.9 points.
* The June share price index futures contract was up one point at 4,913 points, with 9,465 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 325.9 million securities worth $942.6 million.