The ASX is expected to see a modest rise this morning, as local investors are aware that no one will pay much attention to what happens here until the Fed announces its decision on US rates at 4 am Thursday morning, Sydney time.
While Wall Street finished confidently on Friday, our futures traders could only muster enough enthusiasm to push the Share Price Index up by 16 to 18 points ahead of this morning’s resumption of trading on the ASX.
The ASX finished higher on Friday after a mixed start to the day’s trading, ending with a gain of 24.2 points, or 0.3%, for the ASX 200, which closed at 8099.9. The index had earlier reached a six-week high of 8143.6 points but cooled off towards the end due to weaker banks, unlike the previous Friday when the big four banks all closed strongly.
This left the ASX 200 up 1.08% for the week.
The Australian dollar ended the week at 67.04 US cents in New York, up half a per cent for the week.
On Friday, Commonwealth Bank shares fell 0.9%, Westpac was down 0.6%, ANZ dropped 0.5%, and NAB shares declined by 1.2%.
For the week, Commonwealth Bank was up 0.55%, while ANZ and NAB ended down 0.57% and 0.31%, respectively.
Westpac shares added 1.87% for the week, despite the announcement of the surprise retirement of its five-year CEO, Peter King, on Monday.