The final gains were meagre but enough to deliver a flush of positive sessions for the Australian sharemarket this week, continuing a remarkable three-month rally into the long weekend.
The ASX 200 closed 6.9 points, or 0.12 per cent, higher to nudge the bourse to another three-month high 5998.7 close. The index has now closed higher for six straight weeks, something which last happened April and May in 2018.
A choppy session of subdued volume finished with 86 companies higher and 95 lower. 20 were flat.
Asian markets appeared to be in 'Friday mode', according to analysts, as investors took profits off the table ahead of tonight's US and Canadian jobs figures.
The local bourse was similarly subdued early on but picked up after lunch and momentarily jumped above 6000 in late afternoon trade.
Truth be told, it wouldn't have got anywhere near that were it not for a surging financial sector.
The heavyweight banks all had a big day, leaping on a positive analysts' note to reach near three-month highs. The sector added 7.4 per cent for the week, following an 11.1 per cent rise the week before.
UBS analyst Jonathan Mott said this morning a market “re-rating” of bank shares looked possible, after recent signs the economic damage from coronavirus may not be as severe as feared.
Mr Mott upgraded NAB and Westpac to a “buy” and also has a “buy” on ANZ. When Mr Mott last week predicted bank shares would reverse some of their underperformance, three of the big four's shares posted massive gains of up to 8 per cent.
On Friday Commonwealth Bank added 1.58 per cent to $68.75, NAB rose 2.96 per cent to $19.48, and ANZ was up 2.92 per cent to $19.77.
Westpac outperformed the lot with a 3.36 per cent leap to $18.79. Macquarie finished 0.42 per cent higher at $118.
The health sector pulled in the opposite direction, losing a collective 2.75 per cent.
Blood giant CSL retraced some of its earlier gains this week to fall 3 per cent to $285.33.
Other big players in the sector were also subdued: ResMed, Fisher and Paykel, Ramsay Health Care, Sonic and Cochlear each falling by between 0.62 per cent and 3.3 per cent.
The miners recovered from an early stumble but were flat at best amid softening iron ore, albeit still a price of near $US100 per tonne. BHP finished up 0.06 per cent, Rio Tinto gaining 0.2 per cent and Fortescue Metals down 0.41 per cent.
Gold miner Newcrest ended flat at $29.05 after a horrid early run, though the outlook for gold is softer.
Energy stocks rose 1.14 per cent on steadying oil prices. The tech sector followed the NASDAQ lower with Altium, Afterpay, and Appen each losing between 3 per cent and 4.6 per cent.
E-tailer Kogan finished 8.6 per cent higher at $12.38 on a positive trading update and Qantas rose another 3.1 per cent.
For the remaining blue-chip stocks, Wesfarmers lost 1.39 per cent to $41.71, Woolworths added 1.26 per cent to $37.06, Transurban Group lost 1.34 per cent to $14.68, and Telstra slipped 1.53 per cent to $3.22.
Swissquote Bank senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya says tonight's US nonfarm payrolls should confirm near 8 million additional job losses in May and a significant slump in average earnings to 1.0 per cent from 4.7 per cent printed a month earlier.
"Hence, despite the market’s rising hope for faster post-COVID recovery, the reality remains somewhat short of expectations," she said.
The ASX will reopen on Tuesday after the Queen's Birthday holiday.