Australian sharemarket has best weekly performance in seven weeks

The ASX surged higher for the third day in a row, capping off its best weekly performance in seven weeks, but TPG plunged after its founder quit.

The Australian sharemarket lifted for the third straight day and has put in its best weekly performance in seven weeks, with nearly every sector rising on Friday.

The S&P/ASX200 finished 0.49 per cent higher at 6824.2 while the All Ordinaries Index lifted 0.58 per cent to 7063.1.

CommSec analyst Steve Daghlian said it was the best trading week since early February.

“And we’re still on track to lift for a sixth consecutive month as long we can avoid a heavy tumble in the early part of next week,” Mr Daghlian said.

“We had a positive lead from Wall Street last night, which is always helpful and in recent days, the bond market has also been relatively calm.”

The gains were led by materials and IT.

Lithium producer Pilbara Minerals surged 9.52 per cent to $1.03 and iron ore miner Fortescue jumped 3.8 per cent to $20.15.

Pilbara Minerals CEO Ken Brinsden, the former boss of Atlas Iron, with a Tesla in Perth’s Kings Park.

Rio Tinto put on 2.16 per cent to $110.33 and BHP added 0.42 per cent to $45.07.

In the tech sector, accounting software provider Xero was a strong performer, advancing 4.12 per cent to $127.20.

Telstra announced on Friday it had decided to delist from NZX Ltd at the close of business on June 16 and then move to a sole listing on the ASX as part of its bigger plan to simplify the business, with the telecommunications giant saying its Kiwi shareholders had been reducing over time.

Shares in Telstra appreciated 2.4 per cent to $3.41.

TPG Telecom founder and chairman David Teoh resigned, ending his near 30-year reign as the figurehead of the near $13bn company.

TPG shares plunged 6.7 per cent to $6.41.

The news David Teoh had quit TPG sent the telco’s shares south. Picture: David Geraghty/The Australian.

The healthcare sector lagged, with biotech heavyweight CSL easing 0.88 per cent to $267.46.

Sleep devices company ResMed backtracked 1.39 per cent to $24.88, dermal regenerations solutions outfit Polynovo gave up 5.32 per cent to $2.85 and hearing device pioneer Cochlear softened 0.54 per cent to $212.43.

Mr Daghlian noted a2 Milk fell below $8 for the first time in more than three years before clawing back to $8.04, down 1.35 per cent.

“It is its ninth straight day of losses, it has only improved once in 18 trading sessions as well and it certainly has been one of those stocks that has done it quite tough during the pandemic, with border closures to China in particular being a weight.”

In the energy sector, Oil Search rose 1.69 per cent to $4.22, Santos firmed 1.13 per cent to $7.16, Woodside Petroleum found 1.07 per cent to $24.54 and Origin was up 0.64 per cent at $4.73.

“Not a bad performance considering that the oil price fell more than 4 per cent last night and has declined around 9 per cent over the week as well,” Mr Daghlian said.

“This has been partly due to concerns about the COVID situation in Europe at the moment.”

The oil price got a boost during the week, however, on the back of a huge cargo ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal, which is a major shipping channel.

The MV Ever Given ship is still stuck in one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes. Picture: Suez Canal/AFP

Shares in embattled financial services group AMP resumed trading after a pause and gained 0.75 per cent to $1.34 after denying reports chief executive Francesco De Ferrari was poised to resign.

It did, however, go on to say the board and Mr De Ferrari were “constructively discussing the future strategy and leadership of the group, post the completion of AMP’s portfolio review”.

IAG said it had received about 8000 claims as of late Thursday, mainly for property damage, after widespread flooding and storms hit NSW and Queensland.

IAG shares dipped 0.2 per cent to $4.79.

Gig economy marketplace Airtasker shot up 5.93 per cent to $1.43.

Thousands of insurance claims have poured in from flood-hit property owners. Picture: Tim Hunter

OpenMarkets Group chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said Airtasker’s listing had been the highlight of the week, doubling its market capitalisation and rewarding investors with a 120 per cent return in just four trading days.

“It’s been an exceptional debut ... and traders have flocked to get a piece of the action, with the stock being the single most traded across the OpenMarkets client base,” he said.

Investors also piled in to Rent.com.au, which gained 4.44 per cent to 23.5 cents, Mr Tchourilov said.

ANZ firmed 0.97 per cent to $28.17, Commonwealth Bank gave up 0.62 per cent to $86 and National Australia Bank lifted 0.77 per cent to $26.17.

Westpac improved 0.91 per cent to $24.34 after revealing it was considering shutting almost 50 branches as part of a consolidation strategy.

The Aussie dollar was fetching 76.23 US cents, 55.37 British pence and 64.69 Euro cents in afternoon trade.