Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day and how the experts saw it.
The numbers: The Australian share market ended a positive week with a 0.6% gain on Friday as the ASX 200 closed above 7,000 for the first time in two months.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended at 7,015.6 points, weighed down by a 1.9 per cent rise in the mining sector that outpaced declines in energy and IT shares.
The ASX has topped 7,000 points ahead of next week’s earnings season. Credit: Louise Kennerley
BHP rose 1.7 percent to $38.81, Fortescue rose 2.7 percent to $18.14 and Rio Tinto gained 2.6 percent to $97.74. Lithium miners also fared well, with Pilbara Minerals up 3.6% and Allkem up 3.2%.
Meanwhile, energy stocks fell 1.4%, with Woodside down 1.3% and Whitehaven Coal down 3.5%.
The lifters: Novonix +12.2%, Silver Lake Resources +6.2%, Ramelius Resources +6.2%.
The laggards: Megaport -6.8%, Viva Energy -4.2%, REA Group -3.7%.
The downside: Oil prices edged lower Thursday night as recession fears continued to weigh on demand. Brent crude is at $95 a barrel, down from $104 a barrel earlier in the week and below levels seen before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As a result, Australian oil and gas producers fell this week, sending the energy sector down 3% over the past five sessions, after rising 27% over the past year.
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