On Friday, the benchmark index slid 35.80 points or 0.6% lower to close at 6,456.0. Worries over Sino-US trade tensions kept global markets subdued through the week, with investors anxious about the possible impact on the global economy of a long trade war. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington's complaints against Huawei Technologies might be resolved within the framework of a US-China trade deal, while at the same time calling the Chinese telecommunications giant "very dangerous."
Greg McKenna, founder of Sydney-based financial advisory firm McKenna Macro, said in a note "We have had a narrative shift as traders and investors have woken to the notion that the trade war is becoming intractable and hegemonic." The financials sub-index, after paring losses, ended down 0.5% Australia and New Zealand Banking Group shed 0.4% and Westpac Banking Corp slipped 0.1 %. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the biggest lender, erased losses to end flat.
Financial stocks notched a weekly gain of 6.1% - their best week since Feb. 4-8, thanks to a near 8% advance on Monday and Tuesday combined.
Energy stocks plunged 3.1% after oil prices fell sharply as trade tensions hit the demand outlook. The sub-index posted a weekly loss of about 4.3%, its worst performance since late December. Woodside Petroleum dropped 3.5% and Santos lost 3.2%. Miners also declined, and had a weekly loss of 1.9%, despite record high iron ore prices for most of the week.
Benefiting from increasing tensions were gold stocks which rose 0.3%. Northern Star Resources climbed 1%. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.4% or 41.05 points to 10,222.36, but notched a weekly gain of 0.4%. Diary giant a2 Milk Company fell 1.6% while Synlait Milk shed 1.1%.