The ASX is expected to open flat this morning, despite Wall St closing stronger on Friday.
ASX futures were down 0.04% at 7,435 at 7am AEDT, with commodity prices to have an impact in morning trading.
Here’s what we saw:
- The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US72.80 cents to highs near US73.35 cents and was near session highs at the US close.
- Global oil prices fell by as much up to 1% on Friday to post losses for a third straight week. A higher US dollar weighed on prices as did speculation that the US President will unveil measures to stem rising gasoline prices.
- The Brent crude price fell by US70 cents or 0.8% to US$82.17 a barrel.
- The US Nymex crude price fell by US80 cents or 1.0% to US$80.79 a barrel. Over the week Brent crude fell by US57 cents or 0.7% and Nymex crude fell by US48 cents or 0.6%.
- Base metal prices generally rose on Friday.
- Aluminium lifted 1.5%.
- Nickel was 1.3% higher.
- Zinc fell 0.5% and lead fell 0.3%.
- Over the week metals rose with aluminium higher 6.5%) and zinc up 0.3% - the least.
- The gold futures price rose by US$4.60 or 0.2% to US$1,868.50 an ounce.
- Spot gold was trading near US$1,864 an ounce at the US close.
- Over the week gold rose by US$51.70 or 2.8%.
- Iron ore fell by US$4.45 or 4.7% to US$89.75 a tonne. Over the week iron ore fell by US$3.00 or 3.2%.
Australian markets
The local sharemarket broke a four-day losing streak on Friday to be up 0.8% by close of trading.
The S&P/ASX200 finished Friday’s session at 7,443, with materials stocks rebounding on stronger iron ore prices.
BHP Group Ltd finished was 2.8% higher to $37.70, while Fortescue was up 1.9% to $15.75 and Rio finished the day 3.4% higher to $92.21.
Overall, the index finished the week down 0.2% due in part to rising inflation fears in the US that has rattled stocks across the globe.
Best and worst performing sectors last week?
The best performing sectors were Materials up over 2%, followed by Industrials and Utilities, both down just under 1%.
Worst performing sectors were Information Technology and Healthcare, both down over 3% followed by Energy down over 2%.
The best performers in the S&P/ASX top 100 stocks include Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) up over 11%, with Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) up over 10% and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) Limited up over 8%. The worst-performing stocks were Xero Limited down over 10% while Crown Resorts Group Ltd 7% lower and REA Group Ltd falling over 6%.
What's next for Australian share market?
As happens each week, Wealth Within founder and analyst Dale Gillham gives us his lowdown on what we should be looking for in the market.
“The Australian stock market failed to trade higher than the previous week and on Thursday was down just over 1% erasing almost all of the gains from the prior week. That said, it did rally late in the day, which resulted in it closing down just under 1% for the week.
“I mentioned that over the past two years we have experienced many surprises where the market did not respond as we would normally expect. After the bullishness of the prior week, you could reasonably expect to see the market continue to rise last week, however, on each of the first four days it closed lower.
“A high close on Friday would have indicated the weakness in the market last week was just a stall in the new uptrend.”
Australian indices
- ASX 200 rose 0.83% to 7,443.00.
- ASX24 futures were flat at 7,435.
- S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries rose 0.89% to 3,567.60.
- All Ordinaries rose 0.84% to 7,775.80.
US markets
US markets finished the week firmer, but still fell over the week.
It was the first fall for Wall St in six weeks.
Ten of 11 S&P sectors rose. Leading the way was communication services - 1.7% higher.
Over the week the Dow fell 0.6%, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% and the Nasdaq fell by 0.7%.
US treasuries also fell over the week (yields higher) due to higher inflation readings.
US 10-year yields rose by 12 points over the week to near 1.57%. And US 2-year yields rose by 11 points over the week to near 0.52%.
US indices
- Dow Jones was up 0.5% to 36,100.31.
- S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 4,682.85.
- Nasdaq rose 1% to 15,860.96.
European markets
There were mixed results in Europe to end the week.
Shares in Cartier owner, Richemont, rose by 10.9% after its profit result beat forecasts.
However, the travel & leisure sector fell 0.9% on a rise in COVID cases in some countries.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index hit record highs and enjoyed its sixth straight week of gains. The German Dax also hit record highs.
In London trade shares in Rio Tinto fell by 0.8% and BHP shares fell by 0.7%.
European indices
- STOXX 600 rose 0.035% to 483.61.
- German Dax rose 0.1% to 16,094.07.
- UK FTSE fell 0.5% to 7,347.91.