Good Morning Fellow Traders, Thanks @Ravgnome. Hi to anyone...

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

Thanks @Ravgnome. Hi to anyone around. Remember it's a shortened trading day. ASX closes at 2:10pm.

Australian shares closed a shortened week of trading higher, as the market closed in positive territory in all three sessions.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index closed the week 186.7 points, or 3.4 per cent, higher at 5654.3 points while the broader All Ordinaries Index rose 182.7 points, or 3.3 per cent, to 5716.
Most of this week's gains came on Thursday, when the benchmark index recorded its biggest percentage rise during a session since November 2016, as consumer stocks rose on the back of Amazon's statement confirming record-breaking customer orders over the holiday season.

The major banks led the advance this week, along with healthcare giant CSL, as investors returned to buying after the index hit a two-year low last week.

Commonwealth Bank shares closed 5 per cent higher at $71.91, NAB rose 4.9 per cent to $23.96, Westpac climbed 4.5 per cent to $24.91, ANZ lifted 4.5 per cent to $24.34 and CSL ended the week at $186.49, up 4.9 per cent.
The boarder financial sector was also strong. Macquarie Group rose 3.6 per cent to $108.59, Insurance Australia Group climbed 6.3 per cent to $7.07, Suncorp Group advanced 3.2 per cent to $12.82 and QBE Insurance lifted 4.2 per cent to $10.17.

The major miners were also among the market leader this week. BHP Group closed the week at $33.95, up 1.8 per cent, South32 climbed 6.6 per cent to $3.39 and Rio Tinto advanced 3.2 per cent to $78.08.

MYOB Group shares advanced 16.4 per cent to $3.34 after the company's board recommended shareholders accept a $3.40 per share takeover offer by private equity firm KKR on Monday. The firm had earlier made an $3.77 offer, but revised down its offer following a period of due diligence.

Infrastructure and real estate investment trust shares closed the week lower, as investors sold out of the more defensive stocks. Abacus Property Group fell 3.2 per cent to $3.33, Stockland slid 2.1 per cent to $3.61, Shopping Centres Australasia slipped 1.9 per cent to $2.60 and Vicinity Centres closed 1.9 per cent lower at $2.64.

Macquarie retained its 'outperform' recommendation on Rio Tinto following the sale of the Dunkerque aluminium smelter for $500 million, taking the total asset sales completed in 2019 to $US4.9 billion.
The broker retained its $94 price target on the miner, 23.3 per cent above its December 17 price, when the note was published. While the broker downgraded its earnings per share for the next four years by 1-2 per cent, it retained its price target saying the company's asset sales had already been factored in.

"We see potential upside to current capital management plans assuming the Grasberg sale is completed, however a delay in completing the transaction is likely to limit additional cash returns in the first half of 2019," Macquarie said in its note.

Australian shares edged higher on Friday in light end-of-year trade after US stocks reversed earlier steep losses, although an absence of domestic news kept market moves limited.
The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.2 per cent, or 9.4 points, to 5,606.1 by 10:57am in Sydney, its highest in more than a week. The benchmark climbed 1.9 per cent on Thursday.

All three major US indexes turned positive late in Thursday's session, a day after they posted their biggest daily percentage increases in nearly a decade.
The Australian benchmark is on track to snap two straight weeks of losses as it climbs to its biggest weekly gain in nearly two months. Local volumes have remained thin during end of year trade and with markets closed for much of the week due to the Christmas and Boxing Day public holidays, and an early Christmas Eve close.

However, as it approaches the end of December, the market is likely to finish the year in the red, wiping out all its 2017 gains.
On Friday, broader gains were supported by a 0.9 per cent rise in financial stocks, the benchmark's largest constituents. The country's "Big Four" banks rose in a range of 0.6 per cent to 1.1 per cent, with National Australia Bank leading the sector.

Meanwhile, global miner Rio Tinto inched 0.1 per cent lower. The company announced it had deployed its automated heavy-haul trains at its iron ore operations in Western Australia, but added it does not expect to cut jobs in 2019 as a result of the project.
Energy stocks were largely unchanged after a tumultuous end to the year for oil which has seen prices fall drastically from the highs of as much as $US86 per barrel earlier in the year to languish at roughly $US53 in early trade on Friday.

Woodside Petroleum fell 0.4 per cent, offsetting gains by Caltex Australia and Beach Energy.
The Aussie is largely unchanged at 70.32 US cents.

Source: The Age

As we farewell 2018, join me at the buffet for breakfast. Hope it's been a decent enough one for you all and that 2019 will be your best year yet.




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Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions.