The ASX will make a cautious start to the week later today with a public holiday in the US tonight (Presidents Day) ruling out a lead for traders until Wednesday on top of a weak finish to the week in Friday night’s futures trading.
Eurozone shares were basically flat on Friday and the US S&P 500 gained 0.2% (but the Dow dipped). Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both closed at new all-time highs).
Despite the small positive global lead, ASX 200 futures fell 17 points or 0.2% meaning a hesitant start later this morning.
Those concerns linger about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economic outlook with China lifting the death and infected toll daily.
But iron ore rose for the week (its the key commodity for the ASX), oil had a rare up week and gold and copper were OK to weaker.
The Aussie dollar rose half a cent on Friday to end above 67 US cents at 67.12, a gain of around half a cent over the week.
Friday saw the ASX 200 go close to the previous records, driven by the surging share prices for the Commonwealth and National Banks after reasonable updates from the pair last week.
The ASX closed 0.38% higher to 7130.2 points, just 2.5 points short of the record high reached three weeks ago.
It rose 1.53% for the week.
CBA jumped 7.3% last week (2.5% on Friday) to end at $90.99, a five year high. The shares are up more than 13% so far this year.
NAB shares rallied 5.5% for the week but Westpac (up 2.7%) and the ANZ (2.2%) dragged the chain.
Without those solid gains, especially for the NAB and CBA, its clear the ASX would have struggled to finish higher for the week.
CSL shares added 3.5% over the week after a good result and HiFi rose 3.6% after its solid interim.
But Boral fell more than 8% after the confirmation of problems in one of its US businesses, weaker than expected sales and profits in Australia, a lower dividend and the departure of the CEO in August.
TPG shares jumped 9% after the favourable Federal Court ruling on its Vodafone merger but Telstra shares eased half a percent in the wake of that decision which offset the generally positive reception of the interim results.
The worst performer on the index was Southern Cross Media, which sank 5.6% to an 11-year low of 76.5¢. The company is set to deliver its half-year result next Friday. Friday’s fall saw the shares lose 8.3% over the week.
Breville Group shares stood out with a 27% gain over the week (it fell more than 4% on Friday) after a very positive interim report.
