The Australian sharemarket maintained its foothold in positive territory throughout the day, despite the broad-based advance’s slight deceleration before midday.
The Australian benchmark regained the morning’s pace to finish the session on a high note. The strong finish on Friday marked the end of a volatile week, as the broader market moved in zig-zag motion over the week.
However, the advance was not enough to steer the weekly trajectory back to the buy zone, as the ASX200 snapped its five-week run of gains.
Banking and mining stocks spearheaded the wider advance, propelled by Wall Street’s upbeat performance.
The health industry has been the under-performer of the week, as news of the Astra-Zeneca phase-out hit biotech giant CSL
(ASX:CSL) At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.45 per cent or 32.70 points higher at 7308.00. Over the week, it closed 60.90 or 0.83 per cent lower.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 123.00 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 5.00 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 9.00 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 43 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Utilities, up 1.18 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Consumer Staples, down 0.93 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Boral (ASX:BLD), closing 6.38 per cent higher at $7.34. It was followed by shares in Kogan.Com (ASX:KGN) and Adbri (ASX:ABC).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Nuix (ASX:NXL), closing 3.91 per cent lower at $2.46. It was followed by shares in Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Zip Co (ASX:Z1P).
Asian markets
Japan's Nikkei has gained 0.64 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 1.32 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 1.13 per cent.
Wall Street
Over the last four trading days, the Dow Jones gained 2.65 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 2.34 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 2.36 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1779.82 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.20 per cent lower at US$213.46 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.06 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.02 higher at US$70.24 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.92 US cents.
