Friday, 4 May 2018

Markets Live: ASX snaps five-session win streak

The ASX snapped a five-session winning streak on Friday but managed to post its best weekly advance for more than a year as investors welcomed some robust corporate earnings updates.

On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 index fell 35 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 6062, while the All Ordinaries lost 31 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 6155, and the Australian dollar traded flat at US75.33c.

Although the stage was set for a lacklustre open on Friday after US stocks closed mostly mildly lower, the ASX did manage to extend multi-month highs for a time before giving up those gains and ending the session in the red.

The move lower for the ASX came at around the same time that US futures started to point to a weaker start in the US as traders braced for key US nonfarm payrolls data.

During Friday's session in Australia, gains from Macquarie helped limit downside for the benchmark, with the investment bank touching an all-time high at one point in the session after revealing a bumper profit before ending the day up 0.2 per cent at $108.01.

The investment bank was the exception in the banking sector, however, with Commonwealth Bank shares down 1.6 per cent to $72.76, National Australia Bank shares down 1 per cent at $29.10, Westpac shares down 0.9 per cent at $29.10 and ANZ shares down 0.6 per cent at $27.55.

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