Markets settled modestly on Friday as investors eyed the impact of Hurricane Harvey in the Texas area of the Gulf Coast and the UK settled down for a three day Bank Holiday break (the end of summer), ahead of the Labor Day weekend next weekend in the US.
Chinese shares rose 1.9% last week and US shares rose 0.7% on the back of positive indications regarding tax reform, but Eurozone shares fell 0.2% as the Euro rose further, Japanese shares fell 0.1% and Australian shares fell 0.1%.
Bond yields were mostly down slightly, commodity prices were mixed with oil down but iron ore and metals up and the $A was flat overt the week despite a fall in the $US.
The Dow ended the day up 0.14% at 21,813 which helped it shake off back-to-back weekly losses and end the week with a gain of 0.6%.
The S&P 500 ended Friday up 0.17% at 2,443, for a weekly gain of 0.7%, its best gain in six and returning to positive territory after two straight weekly losses.
And the Nasdaq ended the week down just at 0.09% to 6,265 which also helped it post its first weekly gain in five weeks, with a rise of nearly 0.8%.
The US dollar index did not do as well as equities – it fell 0.8% on the day at 92.53 and lost 0.97% over the week, its worst weekly performance in five weeks.
The Aussie dollar ended above 79 US cents at 79.32, steady on the close a week earlier.
European markets fell on Friday with the Stoxx Europe 600 index losing 0.1% to 374.07.
ASX 200 futures gained 6 points or 0.1% pointing to a flat to marginally positive start to trade for the Australian share market later today.
