Friday saw the ASX 200 end November with a small loss but was still up 2.65% for the month with most of those gains coming last week with a rise of 2.03%. The index is up 21% year to date.
The ASX 200 closed at 6,846 points on Friday, down 18 points. The index almost touched an all-time high of 6,900 points early in the session and then eased its way to a 0.3% loss for the day.
The All Ords nearly got through the 7,000 level at the opening but also slid 0.25% to close at 6,948, up 2.6% for the month.
The ASX 200 will start all but flat after a 5 point gain in the overnight futures market on Friday night.
The solid gain in November was achieved without much of a contribution from the four big banks, which have usually driven much of the gains.
Westpac shares fell 1% for the week but lost a nasty 12% in November. The reasons for the losses were self-evident and the shares will remain under pressure well into 2020 thanks to the money-laundering scandal and the dud management and board performance.
The NAB lost 1.5% last week and nearly 9% for the month, the ANZ slipped less than 0.1% for the week and 5.1% for the month.
The Bank of Queensland’s shares lost more than 9% last week because of the $275 million capital raising announced on Monday for a loss of nearly 13% for the month as a whole.
The CBA did the best of the big four, gaining 1.5% last month and a reasonable 3.3% for November.
Gains by big multinationals though helped the wider market.
BHP shares were up 2.8% last week and 7% for the month, Rio Tinto shares were also up 7% for November and 3% for the week. Fortescue Metals shares edged up 2.4% last week and 8% for the month, even though global iron ore prices ended November with a small loss.
Shares in Cochlear jumped 9.5% for the month and 4% for the week and it was a similar story for CSL – up 8.6% for the month and 5.1% for the week as the weaker Australian dollar benefited the shareholders of the two companies.
