Three of the big four banks and investment bank Macquarie helped drive the Australian share market higher last week.
The local share market closed higher for four straight sessions last week, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 and the broader All Ordinaries index each finishing almost 3% firmer.
Leading sector gains were health care, energy and the financials, while the smaller information technology sector jumped nearly 7%.
Biotech giant CSL led the gains in market value with its shares up 3.5% to $195.20, followed by ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Macquarie.
Commonwealth Bank bucked the trend and ranked among the top five market cap losers.
Canstar General Manager of Wealth Josh Callaghan said an increasing number of market analysts have indicated that now might be the time to buy bank stocks for a bargain, given they continued to decline late last year.
“So the banks have entered this year with bit of a tailwind that has helped the overall market recover,” he said.
“While the price of oil has been rallying this year so far, which is contributing to the lift in energy stocks’ share prices.”
Global miner BHP shed $1.7 billion in market value last week with its share price down 1.8% to $32.79, after it went ex-dividend last week to pay shareholders a fully franked special dividend of $1.43 per share.
Fruit and vegetable producer Costa Group was also among the weakest performers with its shares sliding nearly 35% to $4.64, following its significant downgrade of its full-year profit outlook.
Costa said it expects its underlying profit growth to be largely flat due to tougher-than-expected trading conditions, when previously it had forecast low double digit growth.
| ASX 200 Listed Companies – Top 5 Biggest Market Cap Gains and Losses (04/01/2019 to 11/01/2019) | |||||||||||
| Biggest Gains | Biggest Losses | ||||||||||
| Rank | Company | $ Change in Market Cap | Closing Share Price | % Change in Share Price | Rank | Company | $ Change in Market Cap | Closing Share Price | % Change in Share Price | ||
| 1 | CSL (CSL) | $3,021,230,440 | $195.20 | 3.5% | 1 | BHP (BHP) | -$1,738,052,323 | $32.79 | -1.8% | ||
| 2 | ANZ (ANZ) | $2,840,666,994 | $25.24 | 4.1% | 2 | Costa Group (CGC) | -$790,245,175 | $4.64 | -34.7% | ||
| 3 | Westpac (WBC) | $1,999,591,193 | $25.61 | 2.3% | 3 | Commonwealth Bank (CBA) | -$407,155,086 | $71.66 | -0.3% | ||
| 4 | NAB (NAB) | $1,583,146,794 | $24.55 | 2.4% | 4 | Coles Group (COL) | -$373,500,315 | $11.53 | -2.4% | ||
| 5 | Macquarie Group (MQG) | $1,293,454,404 | $113.21 | 3.5% | 5 | Evolution Mining (EVN) | -$254,560,458 | $3.75 | -3.8% | ||
| Prepared by Canstar. Prices taken as of week to week close. | |||||||||||
The gold miners dominated share price falls last week, with the shares of Saracen Mineral, St Barbara, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining falling between 3.8% to 6.6%.
Earthmoving equipment company Emeco’s share price rebounded last week, following wider market gains on optimism around US payroll figures and on signs the US Federal Reserve may not lift interest rates as sharply as first speculated.
| ASX 200 Listed Companies – Top 5 Biggest Share Price Gains and Losses (04/01/2019 to 11/01/2019) | |||||||
| Biggest Gains | Biggest Losses | ||||||
| Rank | Company | Closing Share Price | % Change | Rank | Company | Closing Share Price | % Change |
| 1 | Emeco Holdings (EHL) | $2.26 | 19.3% | 1 | Costa Group (CGC) | $4.64 | -34.7% |
| 2 | WiseTech Global (WTC) | $19.13 | 16.2% | 2 | Saracen Mineral (SAR) | $2.96 | -6.6% |
| 3 | Worleyparsons (WOR) | $13.39 | 15.6% | 3 | St Barbara (SBM) | $4.74 | -5.0% |
| 4 | Beach Energy (BPT) | $1.57 | 15.5% | 4 | Resolute Mining (RSG) | $1.15 | -4.2% |
| 5 | Magellan Financial (MFG) | $26.48 | 15.0% | 5 | Evolution Mining (EVN) | $3.75 | -3.8% |
| Prepared by Canstar. Prices taken as of week to week close. | |||||||
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