The Australian share market has ended Friday in positive territory, despite a tumultuous day for the major banks with South Australia’s bank levy sparking fresh talk of further state government-imposed taxes.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 finished up 9.9 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 5715.9 points, in defiance of a financial sector weighed down by fears of another bank levy.
The S&P/ASX200 was down by about one per cent for the week after recovering from a mid-week rout.
Macquarie Group, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ were all between 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent lower at the end of trade on Friday.
Westpac defied the slide to be just one cent lower, after analyst suggestions the bank will find it easier to offset the impact of any new government levy.
Philip Capital senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said while politicians may not know a “credit from a debit,” the news was not all bad for the major banks.
“Yes, banks had a bit of a day, Macquarie led the falls, but all in all it wasn’t too bad for the financials,” Mr Heffernan said.
“When they get knocked around like this, it has a bigger effect on sentiment rather than actualities,” he said.
Mr Heffernan, said CSL was the standout performer after the blood products company rose $2.33, or 1.65 per cent, ending a week of gains to hit a record $143.33.
“That’s a stunning performance, they keep making sensible aquisitions, they’re a great stock, one of the leading blood placement providers in China and have a very strong presence there, ” Mr Heffernan said.
While local health stocks did benefit from gains in the US overnight, where the Republicans have edged closer to unwinding Obamacare health legislation, Mr Heffernan said CSL required little help from overseas markets.
“They can do it all on their own; if there are movements in the currency or in pharma in the US, that’s just icing on the cake,” he said.
Slight improvements in iron ore and oil prices encouraged a positive end to the week for materials and energy stocks with mining heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both climbing about one per cent.
The materials, industrials, healthcare and telecom sectors all finished higher after a choppy week where the broader market suffered its biggest one-day fall of the year on Wednesday.
“Some people call these earlier falls a ‘plunge’ but that’s just a bit of hyperbole, really the market this week just dipped its toe in the water,” Mr Heffernan said.
Meanwhile, the Australian regained some ground lost this week as a world oil price slump impacted commodity currencies and at 1630 AEST the Aussie was up against the US dollar, trading at 75.61 US cents from 75.54 US cents on Thursday.
ON THE ASX:
*At 1630 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 9.9 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 5715.9 points,
*The broader All Ordinaries index was up 12.3 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 5754.6 points.
*The September SPI200 futures contract was up 13 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 5,656 points.
* National turnover was 2.26 billion securities traded worth $4.86 billion.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST
CURRENCY ASK BID PREVIOUS
AUD/USD 0.757 0.7565 0.7541
AUD/JPY 84.22 84.2 83.95
AUD/EUR 0.6775 0.6773 0.676
AUD/NZD 1.0388 1.038 1.0377
AUD/GBP 0.5949 0.5947 0.5946
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,253.55 per fine ounce, from $US1,253.40 per fine ounce on Thursday.
BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 1.7599pct, from 1.7636pct
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.3695pct, from 2.3729pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* August 2017 10-year bond futures contract at 97.585 (implying a yield of 2.415pct), from 97.58 (2.42pct) on Thursday
* August 2017 3-year bond futures contract at 98.19 (1.81pct), unchanged.
