A wobbly start to ASX trading today after a late slip on the overnight futures market saw the gain cut from around 50 points to just 1 point at the close.
The futures trading was in direct contradiction of the solid day for other markets.
Eurozone shares were up 2.6% and the US S&P 500 rose 2.9% on Friday in response to reopening plans in the US and positive reports of tests regarding the use of Remdesivir for coronavirus patients.
For the week US shares rose 3%, Japanese shares were up 2%, Chinese shares rose 1.9% and Eurozone shares fell 0.3%, despite the rally on Friday.
While Australian energy stocks were hit as oil prices fell, the local share market rose 1.9% boosted by a strong global lead with particularly strong gains in IT, industrial, consumer, material, and health shares.
From their lows around March 23, global shares are up 24% and Australian shares are up 21%, which means they have recovered around 40% of the plunge from around February 20.
Despite the strength in shares, bond yields fell in the US, Germany and Australia as economic data worsened, with still worse data to come.
Oil prices fell as those OPEC+ production cuts were judged to be not enough to offset the slump in global oil demand, but metal and iron ore prices rose.
The weakness in oil is being driven by storage concerns in the US in particular
On Wall Street, the Dow jumped 704.81 points, or 3%, to end the week at 24,242.49, while the S&P 500 added 75.01 points, or 2.7%, to end at 2,874.56. The Nasdaq rose 117.78 points, or 1.4%, to close at 8,650.14.
For the week, the Dow gained 2.2%, the S&P 500 advanced 3% and the Nasdaq rose 6.1%.
Support for stocks was attributed to a report from a health-care media site, Stat News that indicated promising results for a drug called Remdesivir used to treat COVID-19.
Friday saw the Australian share market gain 1.3% for the ASX 200, which had been up more than 2.5% at one stage in the session.
The ASX 200 finished the session up 71.2 points, or 1.3%, at 5487.5.
For the week, the index gained 1.9%, the fourth weekly increase in a row.
