ASX 200 jumps 0.8pc to 7-week high on US gains to be up 2.3 per cent for the week and 5.7 per cent for the month

ASX 200 ends strong month with 0.8pc rise to 7-week high as results from Amazon and Apple add to positive US leads. Goodman up 4.6pc on falling bond yields. Origin up 4.2pc despite writedown.  

Equity investors are upbeat despite a deluge of global and local economic slowdown reports this week. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Friday, July 29. ASX 200 hits 7-week high. PolyNovo's CEO search ends with J&J retired veteran. Wes Maas pitches in $53m for acquisitions. Developer Stockland defies housing gloom. 

The ASX 200 index ends up 0.8 per cent at 6945.2 points after hitting a 7-week high of 6973.6, with the Real Estate sector leading broad-based gains.  

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 1 per cent while the S&P 500 was 1.2 per cent higher and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.1 per cent as investors hoped the economy’s second straight quarter of declines would prompt the Federal Reserve to slow the pace of future rate hikes.

While the two quarters of consecutive declines are considered widely to indicate a ‘recession’, the US National Bureau of Economic Research needs more evidence of slowdown to call it.

After hours, Apple reported an 11 per cent profit fall as iPhone sales kept up and Amazon posted another quarterly loss.

The US 10-year bond yield fell to near 2.67 per cent and the US 2-year yield fell to near 2.88 per cent.

Oil prices are mixed with global benchmark Brent crude up 0.5 per cent to $US107.14 a barrel, but the US Nymex crude fell 0.9 per cent to $US96.42 a barrel.

Singapore iron ore futures fall as much as 5.4 per cent to $US112.30 a tonne with the market disappointed by a lack of fresh policy support for China's property market from a Politburo meeting.

The Aussie dollar hits a 6-week high of $US70.18c as the US dollar continues to slip after the Fed sounds less hawkish.