Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day and how the experts saw it.
The numbers: The Australian sharemarket has finished a positive week with a 0.6 per cent rise on Friday as the ASX 200 closed above 7000 points for the first time in two months.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finished at 7015.6 points, with the weight of a 1.9 per cent mining sector rise overpowering falls in energy and IT stocks.
The ASX has breached 7000 points ahead of earnings season next week.Credit:Louise Kennerley
BHP moved 1.7 per cent higher to $38.81, Fortescue was up 2.7 per cent to $18.14 and Rio Tinto gained 2.6 per cent to $97.74. Lithium miners also fared well, with Pilbara Minerals jumping 3.6 per cent higher and Allkem up 3.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, energy stocks regressed by 1.4 per cent, with Woodside down 1.3 per cent and Whitehaven Coal 3.5 per cent down.
The lifters: Novonix +12.2%, Silver Lake Resources +6.2%, Ramelius Resources +6.2%.
The laggards: Megaport -6.8%, Viva Energy -4.2%, REA Group -3.7%.
The lowdown: Oil prices dropped late on Thursday night as recession fears continued to weigh on demand. Brent crude oil is now priced at $US95 a barrel, down from $US104 a barrel at the start of the week and below levels seen before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
As a result, Australian oil and gas producers dropped this week and sent the energy sector 3 per cent lower across the last five sessions, after rising 27 per cent over the past year.
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