ASX finishes lower but up for the week, Aussie weakens

The news: The benchmark ASX 200 finished 0.37% down to 7,278.3 on Friday, but gained 2.29% for the week. The Australian dollar is about 0.5% lower than yesterday at 64.5 US cents, after giving up roughly 3.5% against the greenback over August.

The numbers: By sector, energy lifted 1.59% to finish 0.77% down for the week. Consumer discretionary stocks finished up 3.68% higher than last Friday. Financials and health care shares had a reasonable week, gaining 1.65% and 1.44% respectively. Fortescue shares gave up 4.83% after Guy Debelle became the third executive to exit the company within the space of a week.

The context: Looking ahead, softer-than-expected CPI figures this week have most analysts expecting outgoing RBA governor Phillip Lowe to keep rates on hold at his last meeting on Tuesday. Lowe will also be speaking at the Annika Foundation in Sydney on Thursday. Australia's quarterly GDP figures come out on Wednesday.