Live markets, Friday April 29, 2022

The ASX 200 continued its rally on Friday with all sectors higher, but it was not enough to erase a second week of losses for the stock with mining, technology and energy stocks all down over the past five days.

The ASX 200 closed at its highest point of the day, up 1.1 percent, or 78.1 points at 7,345. All sectors finished higher, led by tech stocks, after a big rally on Wall St during the evening.

The tech sector rose more than 1.8 percent but ended the week down 2 percent, while mining and the energy sector were also down more than 1 percent for the week.

Randal Jenneke, head of Australian equities at T. Rowe Price, said the market’s performance this week does not hide Australia’s relative attractiveness to foreign investors, as US markets face inflation concerns and the Ukraine war weighs on European markets.

“We believe the strong commodity price environment, high domestic savings and tight labor market will help support the economy,” he said.

“The recent rise in prices across the entire commodity complex, from agriculture to metals, provides a huge improvement to our terms of trade.”

The earnings outlook for the Australian stock market has also improved, relative to its peers.

“These factors combined with the relatively stronger economic outlook have driven a higher allocation to Australia by global asset allocators, who for the first time in many years are increasing their weighting in the Australian stock market,” Jenneke said.

Some of the big movers on Friday included online retailer Kogan, which sank below $4 to a 3-year low after reporting a bearish start to the new financial year. The company’s sales fell and the business posted a loss as consumer demand waned.

PointsBet shares lead the ASX 200 gains and rose as much as 15 per cent after the online sportsbook revealed strong quarterly turnover growth, fueled by the expansion of its US operations.

Shares of Origin Energy rose after reporting it more than doubled revenue from liquefied gas exports in the past three months as it battled a wave of rising commodity prices.

Resmed shares fell more than 4 percent after the group said a shortage of semiconductor chips will limit the profit the company can make from the withdrawal of its main competitor, Philips.