A sharp rally in bank stocks helped push the Australian sharemarket higher on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.4 per cent, or 31 points, to 8013.4 at the closing bell, with eight out of the 11 sectors in the green. The All Ordinaries rose 0.3 per cent. That’s despite the index sealing a weekly loss of 1 per cent, its first weekly decline in four weeks.

The financial sector was the best performing, climbing 1.5 per cent. The big four all rose – Commonwealth Bank by 1.5 per cent to $143.47, Westpac by 1.7 per cent to $32.10, ANZ by 1.7 per cent to $31.79 and National Australia Bank by 1.4 per cent to $39.05. The rally in banks came ahead of US unemployment and jobs figures – set for release at 10.30pm Friday AEST – which are expected to indicate the pace and scale of interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve in the coming months.

In commodities, iron ore futures extended their slump towards $US90 a tonne in Singapore, oil fluctuated, and gold edged back above the $US2500 an ounce mark. The materials sector tracked the steel-making mineral, down 0.9 per cent. BHP fell 1.2 per cent to $38.45, Rio Tinto dropped 0.1 per cent to $107.02 and Fortescue Metals lost 0.1 per cent to $16.12.

Stocks in focus

ASX-listed dental chain Pacific Smiles dropped 1.4 per cent to $1.76 after announcing that chief executive Andrew Vidler is stepping down. He will serve a six-month notice period and the board will commence a recruitment process for his replacement.

Woodside Energy sold $US2 billion ($3 billion) of bonds in the US market overnight, to be used partly to fund the $US2.35 billion acquisition of a clean ammonia project in Texas and the $US900 million purchase of a prospective LNG export terminal in Louisiana. Shares were down 3.9 per cent to $24.02, tracking a lower crude oil price and touching an 18-month low.

Also within the energy sector, Santos also dropped 1.4 per cent to $6.92 and Ampol slid 1 per cent to $28.48.