ASX hits fresh peak on Friday despite China's unexpected economic shift
The benchmark ASX200 continued its march higher during Friday afternoon's trading, closing up 64.80 points or 0.73 per cent to 8,938.60, while the broader All Ordinaries finished the day up 63 points or 0.69 per cent to 9,212.10.
Australia's dollar also traded 0.13 per cent higher and at the time of writing was buying 65.03 US cents.
In a broad market rally, nine of the 11 sectors traded higher with only consumer staples and technology finishing lower.
Australia's sharemarket jumped during the afternoon's trading. Picture Newswire/ Gaye Gerard.
The big four all gained, led by Westpac which jumped 2.14 per cent to $36.81 after announcing strong quarterly results on Thursday.
ANZ also had a strong day up 1.78 per cent to $33.08, while NAB finished 0.80 per cent higher to $39.19 and Commonwealth Bank traded 0.57 per cent higher to $168.17.
The materials sector helped lift the market with BHP shares up 1.08 per cent to $41.96, Rio Tinto jumped 1.41 per cent to $115.05 and Fortescue closed 1.28 per cent higher at $19.84.
The rise in the materials sector came despite weakness out of China which could impact Australia's major resources sector.
AMP chief economist and head of investment strategy Shane Oliver said Chinese economic data for July was soft.
'Retail sales, industrial production and investment all rose less than expected and residential property investment and sales are continuing to fall as are home prices,' Dr Oliver said.
'Unemployment rose slightly although this possibly due to grad and typhoon season.'
The market ignored pressures from China, focusing on reporting season which so far has been better than expected.
'Results have been good with more upside than downside surprises, although most results have been in line, and a big increase in the number of companies reporting profits or dividends up on a year ago than in the December half reporting season,' Dr Oliver said.
'Just bear in mind though that it was much like this at the start of the last reporting season as there is a tendency for companies with good results to report early so results may soften over the next couple of weeks.'
Nine of the 11 sectors gained. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw
He also said consensus earnings expectations are for overall business profits to fall 1.7 per cent.
If the results show this, it would be the third year in a row corporate earnings shrunk.
In company news, shares in hearing implant maker Cochlear gained 0.99 per cent to $309.03 after announcing a 1 per cent increase in underlying net profits to $392m, while revenue was up 4 per cent.
Cochlear said it aimed to help more than 60,000 people to hear using one of its devices over the next year, up from 53,000 in the last financial year.
Shares in Amcor sank 9.70 per cent to $13.60 after announcing its fourth-quarter results showing weakness out of its North American businesses.
Baby Bunting soared 40.54 to $2.60 on its latest earnings with the business aiming to double its store network.
According to its results until June 29 sales grew by 4.7 per cent to $521.9m, while margins increased and underlying net profit under tax soared 228 per cent to $12.1m.
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