The share market has posted its biggest weekly gain since February as easing concerns about Europe helped the big banks.
The European Central Bank’s hint that it could buy corporate bonds helped drive a 140-point rise on the S&P/ASX200 index during the past week, Australian Stock Report senior equity analyst Benny Sada said.
“It’s been a very big week overall for the Aussie market,” he said.
“We’ve had some fairly significant indications from the European Central Bank that they are prepared to be more aggressive with their monetary stimulus and that’s really allayed a lot of those concerns about the eurozone economy.”
The local market has dropped only once during the past nine sessions, falling by just 2.8 points on Thursday.
But the big miners were weaker, amid disappointing prices for commodities, particularly for iron ore.
The big four banks drove the market higher on Friday, with Commonwealth Bank up 60 cents at $78.77, Westpac up 19 cents at $34.21, National Australia Bank up 23 cents at $34.27 and ANZ nine cents higher at $33.02.
But the miners fell with BHP Billiton down 10 cents to $33.74, Rio Tinto down 18 cents at $60.05 and Fortescue Metals six cents lower at $3.47.
AMP had gained 17 cents to $5.56 after a positive trading update, while sleep disorder specialist ResMed was 35 cents higher at $5.72 following a six per cent revenue rise during the September quarter.
KEY FACTS
* At 1615 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 29.1 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 5,412.2 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 29.4 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 5,399.3.
* The December share price index futures contract was 27 points higher at 5,399, with 30,520 contracts traded.
* The price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1231.00 per fine ounce, down $13.10 on Thursday’s closing price of $US1244.10.
* Updated national turnover was 1.5 billion securities worth $3.6 billion.
