Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange:
CBA - COMMONWEALTH BANK - up 23 cents, or 0.27 per cent, to $84.09
WBC - WESTPAC - down 16 cents, or 0.49 per cent, to $33.06
ANZ - ANZ - up 12 cents, or 0.39 per cent, to $30.79
NAB - NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK - up 3 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $31.13
US banks posted positive earnings reports and their chief executives were upbeat about the year ahead on Friday, which could boost investor confidence in local lenders.
RIO - RIO TINTO - up $1.13 cents, or 1.82 per cent, to $63.22
BHP - BHP BILLITON - up 44 cents, or 1.67 per cent, to $26.77
FMG - FORTESCUE METALS - up 18 cents, or 2.92 per cent, to $6.34
Iron ore prices are flat, but copper hit a five-week high on Friday and aluminium climbed to its highest in nearly 20 months on optimism about metals demand following strong economic data from top metals consumer China and the US.
WPL - WOODSIDE PETROLEUM - down 5 cents, or 0.16 per cent, to $31.88
STO - SANTOS - down 4 cents, or 0.95 per cent, to $4.15
BPT - BEACH ENERGY - down 1.5 cents, or 1.85 per cent, to $79.5 cents
CTX - CALTEX - down 24 cents, or 0.79 per cent, to $30.05
Oil prices fell on Friday and ended the week three per cent lower on lingering doubts over the extent of OPEC cuts, with sentiment worsened by concerns over the economic health of the world's second-largest oil consumer, China, after it reported the steepest falls in overall exports since 2009.
PRY - PRIMARY HEALTH CARE - down 11 cents, or 2.77 per cent, to $3.86
Chief executive Peter Gregg resigned late Friday after the corporate watchdog made allegations that he had breached the Corporations Act.
SRX - SIRTEX - down 2 cents, or 0.13 per cent, to $15.82
Sirtex said late on Friday it had fired chief executive Gilman Wong over his share trading and appointed Nigel Lange as acting CEO.
