ASX ends week higher as consumer discretionary leads
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended the week higher ahead of the King’s Birthday long weekend.
The numbers: The ASX 200 gained 0.49% to finish at 7,860, with 10 out of 11 sectors finishing in the green.
The best-performing sector was consumer discretionary, up 1.19%, followed by materials (0.76%) and consumer staples (0.7%). Large discretionary companies Wesfarmers ( 1.46%), Aristocrat Leisure (2.33%) and The Lottery Corporation (0.58%) all ended higher.
IDP Education was the best-performing ASX 200 company, up 6.27%, after being the worst performer on Thursday. Macquarie analysts retained their ‘neutral’ rating on the stock but reduced their price target by 27% to $16.
GQG finished 2.33% higher after posting a lift in its funds under management following a drop in the month prior.
Elsewhere, Novonix shares soared 10.08% after it denied equity raising plans after media reports claimed it was looking to do so.
While SkyCity rose 0.36% despite the Federal Court ordering SkyCity Adelaide to pay a $67 million penalty for money laundering.
The worst-performing sector was IT, down 0.05%, followed by healthcare (0.07%) and energy (0.08%). Family sharing app Life360 was the worst ASX 200 performer, plunging 6.88% following its IPO on the Nasdaq, which looked to raise USD155 million ($232.3 million).
The Australian dollar is higher, buying 66.74 US cents.
The context: Tonight will see the release of the latest US unemployment rate figures, which could impact the Federal Reserve’s path to cutting interest rates.
All eyes next week will be on the latest US CPI figures along with the Fed’s next monetary policy decision.
The latest Australian unemployment rate will also be released next week.
