The Australian sharemarket ended the week on a positive note. At the closing bell, the ASX 200 was 0.5 per cent or 37 points higher at 7,523. Over the week, it closed 0.5 per cent or 35 points higher.
Energy stocks eased back from morning gains, coming in second behind materials, which closed as the best-performing sector. Health care and utilities also closed higher while tech dragged.
Mining giants BHP
(ASX:BHP) and Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) both closed 1 per cent higher, Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) closed 2.5 per cent higher and Mineral Resources
(ASX:MIN) closed 2.6 per cent higher following its acquisition with Red Hill Iron.
Energy supplier Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) closed 0.8 per cent higher, Santos
(ASX:STO) closed 1 per cent higher and Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) closed 6.4 per cent higher. .
Bio-tech firm CSL
(ASX:CSL) lowered in the afternoon, yet still closed 1 per cent higher. Sonic Healthcare
(ASX:SHL) closed 0.9 per cent higher and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals
(ASX:CUV) closed 6.2 per cent higher.
Major banks were mixed with NAB
(ASX:NAB) leading the pack, closing 0.7 per cent higher. Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA) closed 0.5 per cent higher, Westpac
(ASX:WBC) closed 0.1 per cent lower and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) closed 0.3 per cent lower.
NSW recorded 1431 new Covid-19 cases, another record number. Victoria recorded 208 new cases and Queensland recorded 0.
Local economic news The Australian Bureau of Statistics released their retail trade figures for Jul this year. The statement included monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses, including store and online sales. The Jul seasonally adjusted estimate fell 2.7 per cent month-on-month and fell 3.1 per cent from the prior year.
Company news Please join us for Stocks of the Hour
here. Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) acquired a 40 per cent interest in Red Hill iron ore joint venture (RHIOJV), located in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia.
TechnologyOne (ASX: TNE) entered an agreement regarding the acquisition of the UK education service, Scientia Resource Management.
FINEOS
(ASX:FCL) successfully raised $70 million through an institutional placement, an upsize of $10 million following support from security holders.
Suda Pharmaceuticals (ASX: SUD) has appointed Dr John Maher to its scientific advisory board for the iNKT cell therapy platform.
IPOBallymore Resources
(ASX:BMR) listed on the ASX today at issue price of $0.20. The stock opened at $0.26 and closed flat at $0.35.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 69 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 9 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 20 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 2 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector was Materials, up 1.2 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Information Technology, down 0.8 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Orocobre
(ASX:ORE), closing 7 per cent higher at $9.79. It was followed by shares in Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) and Alumina
(ASX:AWC).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was BlueScope Steel
(ASX:BSL), closing 3 per cent lower at $23.92. It was followed by shares in Ramelius Resources
(ASX:RMS) and Afterpay
(ASX:APT).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has gained 2 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.6 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost 0.3 per cent.
Wall StreetOver the last four trading days, the Dow Jones lost 0.03 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 1.3 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1812.73 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1 per cent lower at US$142.02 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.5 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.01 lower at US$69.98 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 74.22 US cents.
