ASX 200 rises 1.8pc for week; AGL rockets with profit to double in FY24, dollar at four-month high

Westpac forecasts 'insipid growth', cash rate peak of 4.6pc. AGL to more than double profit in FY24. Bank of Japan holds rates steady. Mineral Resources makes gas discovery.

Local investors are parsing big rate decisions in the US, Europe and China as doubt’s about Japan’s ‘ultra-loose’ monetary policy surface. Picture: David Swift.

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Friday, June 16. The Australian sharemarket has snapped a three-week losing streak to end Friday with its biggest weekly gain in 10 weeks as it tracked positive offshore sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose a fifth consecutive day by 1.1 per cent to 7251.20. For the week the index gained 1.8 per cent.

Wall Street is set to open lower following strong gains on Thursday with futures tied to the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq were all in the red. 

The dollar was near a four-month high of US68.90c at the close.