the asx rallied over 1 per cent friday with all sectors participating 1504942015

The Australian share market ended last week with a flourish as all sectors ended in the black on Friday, and the broad market clocked a rally of 1 per cent, fuelled by the big banks and energy stocks.

The market was also supported by weakness in the Australian dollar, which was bullish for exporters, and made Australian assets, such as stocks and real estate, more attractive to foreign investors.

In its best one-day performance in a month, the market moved up quickly in the first two hours of trade to the day’s high of 5,803.00, but spent the rest of the day in sideways trading that saw the 5,800 level acting as a strong resistance.

Indices and sectors

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 on Friday rose 64.1 points, or 1.1 per cent, and closed at 5,777.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 60.3 points, or 1.0 per cent, at 5,774.9.

The top gaining sectors were financials (+1.42 per cent), energy (+1.26 per cent), materials (+1.12 per cent) and telecommunication (+1.07 per cent). There were no losing sectors.

Stocks

The financial sector, particularly the biggest banks, led the market higher. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) shot up nearly 2 per cent to AU$85.09, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) gained 1.80 per cent to AU$33.56, National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX:NAB) was up 2.63 per cent to AU$34.32 and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) surged 1.44 per cent to AU$33.19.

In energy, Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX:WPL) gained 0.58 per cent to AU$36.63, Oil Search Limited (ASX:OSH) was up 1.18 per cent to AU$7.60, Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) surged 3.82 per cent to AU$13.31 and Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) was up 0.98 per cent to AU$8.25.

Though the materials sector gained over 1 per cent, the mining stocks presented a mixed picture. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP) rose 1.34 per cent to AU$29.59 and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO) moved up 0.95 per cent to AU$58.20. However Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX:FMG) fell 0.41 per cent to AU$2.42, BC Iron Limited (ASX:BCI) slipped 7.14 per cent to AU$0.39 and Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX:MGX) slumped 6.52 per cent to AU$0.215.

The retailers also ended mixed on Friday. Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES), the owner of supermarket chain Coles, was up 0.14 per cent to AU$43.66, and Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX:MYR) shot up 2.39 per cent to AU$1.500. However, Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) ended a shade lower at AU$28.00 and Caltex Australia Limited (ASX:CTX) fell 0.35 per cent to AU$33.70.

In telecommunications, Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX:TLS) ended 1.14 per cent higher at AU$6.220 and TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX:TPM) was up 1.23 per cent to AU$9.04. However, M2 Group Ltd (ASX:MTU) was down 0.36 per cent to AU$11.11 and iiNet Limited (ASX:IIN) was up 0.41 per cent to AU$9.800.

Economic news and currency

New home sales in Australia touched yet another five-year high, according to monthly data from the Housing Industry Association. According to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the rate of growth of private sector credit grew in April by only 0.3 per cent compared to 0.5 per cent the previous month, and missing expectations of 0.5 per cent.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Friday by 115.44 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 18,010.68, the S&P 500 lost 13.4 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 2,107.39 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 27.95 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 5,070.03.

The Australian dollar continued to trade weak following last week’s disappointing data on the outlook for business investment in the country, according to Business Spectator. At 07:00 this morning (AEST), the Aussie was trading at 76.39 US cents, down from 76.53 US cents on Friday.

The Australian stock market is likely to open lower today given that the June ASX SPI200 Index (AP) Futures was down 17 points at 5,761.