ASX finishes higher on strong US lead, energy rallies
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended the week higher after higher than expected jobless claims in the US renewed hopes for interest rate cuts on Wall Street.
The numbers: The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.35% to 7,749, with seven out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
The best performing sectors were energy, up 1.87%, followed by financials (0.69%), and communication services (0.65%). Energy stocks were buoyed by a further rise in oil prices due to an improved Chinese economy and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Oil majors Woodside (2.14%) and Santos (1.82%) both enjoyed gains while Beach Energy (4.62%) and Karoon Energy (3.96%) rose the most.
Gold companies also gained with Gold Road Resources (4.52%), Emerald Resources (4.14%), Red 5 (2.81%), and West African Resources (2.5%) among the top performers.
Helia, up 6.76%, was the best performing stock across the ASX 200 after announcing a $100 million buyback.
QANTM Intellectual Property rose 2.42% after it said its board had backed a takeover offer from Adamantem Capital over rival bidder IPH.
QBE ended flat after a volatile day despite the company reaffirming its full-year outlook and posting a premiums rise during the first half.
The worst performing sector was industrials (-0.14%), consumer staples (-0.13%) and IT (-0.07%). Coles (-0.55%), Endeavour Group (-0.77%) and Metcash (-1.16%) all experienced falls. Metcash today announced that its hardware CEO Annette Welsh would be stepping down from the role after five years.
One of the worst performers across the ASX 200 was tech company Life360, down 2.97%, after it announced a net loss for the first quarter and that it intended to IPO on the Nasdaq.
And Suncorp fell 0.49% after its banking unit flagged worsening home loan arrears due to the impact of high interest rates on households.
The Australian dollar is lower buying 66.12 US cents.
The context: The weekend will see China release its latest CPI and producer price index figures.
All eyes will be on Canberra next week as the government is set to hand down the federal budget on Tuesday night.
