ASX finishes edges lower for flat week, AUD below 64 US cents

The news: Hawkish comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell rattled markets at the end of the week, bleeding into the Australian session and weighing on the Aussie as investors piled into the greenback. The benchmark ASX 200 edged 0.6% lower on Friday to 6,976.50, roughly where it closed last week. Oil prices have spent the second half of the week rangebound at more than three-month lows, as global demand concerns outweighed worries of a broader conflict in the Middle East. Brent Crude is trading at roughly USD80.57 per barrel.

The numbers: The Aussie dollar is buying 63.4 US cents after a short-lived breach of the 64 US cent level on Thursday. Utilities, energy stocks and financials weighed on the index, losing 1.7%, 1.5% and 1.0% respectively on Friday. Energy stocks are down 4.3% for the week and 6.6% for the month, tracking with sluggish price of crude, which has tumbled after a third quarter rally.

The context: AGMs continue next week, with Beach Energy, Lendlease, Goodman Group, Flight Centre, Seek, Computershare, Altium, A2 Milk, Sonic Healthcare, Mirvac, Charter Hall, Seven Group and Mineral Resources presenting to shareholders. US inflation data comes out in the middle of the week, along with Australian wage price index figures and China industrial production and retail sales numbers. Australian employment figures and US producer prices will follow later in the week.