The ASX will start weak and lower later this morning after an inconclusive end on Wall Street on Friday ended a rough week.
Eurozone shares fell 0.4% on Friday and the US S&P 500 fell 0.1% with another bout of tweets from Donald Trump’s around interest rates, China tariffs and the US dollar not helping sentiment.
As a result that weak lead saw the ASX 200 futures contract down 18 points or 0.3% by the close on Saturday morning, Sydney time and that points to a soft start for the Australian share market today.
That will be the direct opposite of Friday’s solid 23 point, or 0.4% rise in the ASX 200, to 6,285.
That propelled the index to its 0.3% gain for the week.
Afterpay shares jumped more than 30% to $14.36 after updating shareholders on better than forecast earnings trends and sales on Thursday.
Technology One was another strong tech which saw its shares up a solid 15% to $5.05, after it reaffirmed its fiscal-year net profit growth target. There had been some concerns about that forecast after a less than encouraging interim performance.
Shares in CIMIC (the old Leighton Holdings) jumped 13% to $48.30 after a 12% rise in interim net profit to $363 million.
The big banks did OK, especially on Friday.
CBA shares climbed 0.7% to $75.90, Westpac rose 0.7% to $29.90, NAB shares ended up 0.6% to $28.30 and ANZ shares finished half a per cent higher at $29.36. That saw the CBA rise 1.4% over the week, the ANZ, 1.2%, the NAB, lost 0.9% and Westpac added 1%.
Miners and energy stocks had a tough week with commodity prices weakening as the US-China trade war intensified thanks to more bluster from Donald Trump.
BHP shares lost 2% on Friday to end the week with a loss of 1.2%, while Rio shares rose 0.3% but eased 0.6% for the week.
Gold miner, Evolution Mining fell 9.7% to end the week at $2.99 after forecasting lower production and higher costs in the 2019 financial year.
Lithium hopefuls, Galaxy Resources fell 6.7% over the week but Pilbara Minerals saw its shares end the week down 3.9%, despite a 4.5% jump on Friday.
