ASX down for the week

A Friday rally of half a percentage point failed to retrace losses booked earlier in the week.

Keen investors will be tracking shares despite expecting a quiet day after the Christmas break and before the new year. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

The local sharemarket ended Friday on a high note, but failed to regain the week’s earlier losses.

Regional optimism was boosted by a better than expected Wall Street lead and optimism over China’s economic support packages.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index ended up 0.5 per cent, or 40.9 points, at 8261.8, amid light trading volumes. For the week, it was down 0.6 per cent.

Meanwhile the broader All Ordinaries index closed Friday up 0.6 per cent, or 48.6 points, at 8520.1.

Consumer discretionary stocks led gains, up 1.1 per cent as a sector, amid cautious optimism over the Christmas trading period.

All sectors bar utilities and information technology ended in the green.

Financials rose 0.6 per cent, with Commonwealth Bank outperforming as it jumped 0.7 per cent to $156.21. Westpac rose 0.7 per cent to $32.66, while National Australia Bank made 0.5 per cent to $37.58. ANZ Bank edged up 0.3 per cent to $28.82.

Payments group Zip Co surged 5.2 per cent to $3.06.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto turned up 0.6 per cent to $116.83, while rival BHP eked out 0.1 per cent to $39.77. Fortescue put on 0.7 per cent to $18.52.

The oil price extended its gains in Asian trading.

It helped lift Santos 0.3 per cent to $6.55, while Woodside rose 0.4 per cent to $24.24.

Among the best performers of the session, radiopharmaceutical company Clarity Pharmaceuticals surged 6.3 per cent to $4.25, while fellow biotech Polynovo jumped 3.4 per cent to $2.15.

The Australian dollar was buying US62.09c at 4.30pm (AEDT).

Bitcoin, having recently retreated from above $US100,000, was trading around $US96,000.

Wall Street muted on return

Wall Street’s three major indexes traded flat in the first session after Christmas as jobless figures came in slightly better than expected.

The S&P 500 shed a marginal 2.5 points, the tech-focused Nasdaq dipped 0.1 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent.

Profit-taking hit Magnificent 7 stocks Amazon and Tesla. Amazon closed 0.9 per cent lower to $US227.05 and Tesla lost 1.7 per cent to $US454.13.

American jobless claims in the week to 21 December dropped slightly to 219,000 from 220,000 the week prior. The data counts Americans who make initial filings for unemployment benefits.

Originally published as ASX down for the week