The Australian share market has closed out another volatile week of trade on a positive note, with gains across the board led by a resurgent energy sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed Friday up 28 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 5,765.1 points, with the energy majors providing the best momentum.
There were gains across most sectors for the fourth time in five days, with the market ahead by about one per cent over the week.
CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said the last couple of months has seen trading on the ASX moving within a range of 3.0 to 3.5 per cent.
“Trading has been up and down for a while, a bit volatile and directionless, with no driving catalysts the market has been largely treading water,” Mr Daghlian said.
Leading gains for the session was a buoyant energy sector, up two per cent, partly on oil’s overnight price rise and partly because energy prices against stock values are still well down, Mr Daghlian said.
“Remember the price of oil has halved in three years. In 2014 it was well above $100,” Mr Daghlian said.
The majors all ended the week strongly with Santos, Woodside, Oil Search and Origin each gaining between 2.0 and 2.5 per cent, while Caltex Australia was also up about 1.5 per cent.
Aside from Westpac which finished just 0.3 per cent higher, the major banks held onto early gains, with ANZ, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank all ahead between 0.7 and 1.0 per cent.
Rising iron ore prices – up over 23 per cent from a low of $53.36 a tonne on June 13 – still produced mixed results for the resources sector.
Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton was up 0.5 per cent to $25.13, Rio Tinto ahead by 0.2 per cent to $65.53, while Fortescue Metals closed 0.4 per cent lower at $5.27.
In company news, the week ended as it began for Australian vaccines and blood products developer CSL, which lost more than 1.4 per cent, to finish the week more than three dollars lower at $130.89.
Takeover talk at labour hire group Programmed Maintenance bumped its value more than 60 per cent to $2.97 after the board was unanimous in its backing of a $780 million offer from Japanese HR giant Persol.
Next week traders will be looking for economic growth and housing numbers out of China, while the dollar will be back in focus with the RBA making several addresses.
“But other than that, next week there’s not a whole lot of market moving data, locally,” Mr Daghlian said.
The Australian dollar was nudging four month highs against the greenback on Friday, after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s mid-week affirmations on monetary tightening.
The local currency was worth 77.55 US cents at 1630 AEST, up from 76.44 US cents on Thursday.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed up 28.3 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 5,765.1 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 29.6 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 5,808.7 points.
* The September SPI200 futures contract was down 3.0 points at 5,690 points.
* National turnover was 1.818 billion securities traded worth $5.290 billion.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST
CURRENCY ASK BID PREVIOUS
AUD/USD 0.7753 0.7749 0.7726
AUD/JPY 87.81 87.74 87.51
AUD/EUR 0.6793 0.6787 0.6776
AUD/NZD 1.0592 1.058 1.0546
AUD/GBP 0.5984 0.5979 0.5969
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,216.70 per fine ounce, from $US1,223.24 per fine ounce on Thursday.
BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 1.9067pct, from 1.8932pct on Thursday
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.6613pct, from 2.6306pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* August 2017 10-year bond futures contract at 98.010 (implying a yield of 1.990pct), from 97.315 (implying a yield of 2.685pct) on Thursday
* August 2017 3-year bond futures contract at 97.28 (2.72pct), from 98.02 (1.98pct).
(*Bond market closes taken at 1630 AEST previous local session)