Investors pushed the Australian share market into negative territory as they banked some profits following its strong run over the previous three trading sessions.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 0.53 per cent on Friday after rising 2.59 per cent over the previous three days.
CommSec market analyst Steve Daghlian said the market is taking a breather after a “tremendous run” from Tuesday to Thursday.
“We’re finding resistance at 5,900 points so we did briefly break above that level but the market has fallen back below this afternoon,” he said.
Slightly better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing and services data for March, released at midday Australian time, helped lift the local market at lunch time but the gains were short lived, Mr Daghlian said.
China’s factory activity hit a near five-year high in March, while its services sector accelerated in March at the fastest pace in nearly three years.
Trading was also affected by Friday being the last day of the month and of the first quarter of 2017, which can result in “some unusual moves” as fund managers rebalance some of their portfolios, Mr Daghlian said.
About $8 billion was paid out in dividends this week, of which $2.5 billion was paid out on Friday from Telstra, AMP, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Caltex.
The energy and financial sectors were the biggest fallers on the market, losing 0.92 and 0.58 per cent, respectively.
Caltex dropped 1.63 per cent and Woodside Petroleum fell 0.8 per cent to $32.08.
All four major banks ended the week in negative territory after their strong run in recent sessions, with ANZ falling 1.4 per cent, Commonwealth Bank losing 0.7 per cent, Westpac dropping 0.6 per cent and National Australia Bank slipping 0.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was trading at 76.43 US cents at 1700 AEDT, down slightly from 76.57 US cents on Thursday as the US dollar strengthened following an upward revision for US gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2016.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 31.3 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 5,864.9 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 28 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 5,903.8 points.
* The June SPI200 futures contract was down 33 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 5,847 points at 1630 AEDT.
* National turnover was 2.5 billion securities traded worth $6.9 billion.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 76.43 US cents, from 76.57 US cents on Thursday
* 85.51 Japanese yen, from 85.14 yen
* 71.59 euro cents, from 71.19 euro cents
* 61.29 British pence, from 61.56 pence
* 109.40 New Zealand cents, from 109.07 NZ cents
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,242.03 per fine ounce, down $US7.87 from $US1,249.90 on Thursday.
BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
* CGS 5.25 per cent March 2019, 1.747pct, up from 1.742pct
* CGS 4.25pct April 2026, 2.636pct, up slightly from 2.632pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* March 2017 10-year bond futures contract at 97.270 (2.730pct), unchanged from Thursday
* March 2017 3-year bond futures contract 98.050 (implying a yield of 1.950pct)
down from 98.060 (1.940pct)
(*Currency closes taken at 1700 AEDT previous local session, bond market closes taken at 1630 AEDT previous local session)
