ASX 200 weekly wrap: BHP, RIO, Westpac shares up

Major miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals and big banks Westpac and Macquarie were among some of the best performers on the share market last week.

The mining-related materials sector led the Australian share market higher last week with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index and the All Ordinaries index both rising by almost 0.50% to 6,194.60 and 6,305.40 points, respectively.

Canstar’s General Manager of Wealth Josh Callaghan said industrial and precious metal prices surged after the US confirmed additional tariffs on China.

“The result was a boost in the share prices of local miners BHP, RIO and Fortescue Metals which were up 5.5%, 8.7% and 7.9%, respectively,” Mr Callaghan said.

Minerals and gold producers dominated share price gains with lithium, nickel, zinc, copper and gold miners posting the top five biggest share price rises for the week, ranging from Independence Group’s 8.7% lift to Pilbara Minerals’ 15% jump.

As for the banks, Westpac’s share price advanced 1.4% to $28.16 and Macquarie’s rose 2.7% to $127.85 with both ranking among the top five biggest winners when it came to market value gains.

Mr Callaghan said there were no specific news that drove bank shares higher, however he said the market was continuing to jostle with finding a fair price for them amid the financial services royal commission.

“With the announcement of a royal commission into aged care, the health sector struggled last week with a 1.32% decline,” he said.

“Estia Health took the biggest hit with its share price down 18.3% to $2.41, while Aveo dropped 7.2% to $2.06.”