AU Evening Wrap: ASX Rises 0.2%, But Charts Second Weekly Loss

$S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ closed 0.2 per cent higher at 6826.9 on strength among large-cap stocks, but still finished lower for a second straight week. Gains among big banks and miners helped the benchmark index avoid a third straight daily drop. An index of the 20 largest companies by market capitalization added 0.4 per cent, paring its losses of earlier in the week.

Banks $ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ANZ.AU)$, $Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AU)$, $National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB.AU)$ and $CommBank (CBA.AU)$ put on between 0.2 per cent and 0.8 per cent.

Iron-ore miners $Fortescue Ltd (FMG.AU)$ and $BHP Group Ltd (BHP.AU)$ inched 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent higher, respectively, and gold stocks also gained.

$Newmont Corp (NEM.AU)$ made its debut on the ASX following its acquisition of Newcrest. The dual-listed shares ended their first day at $59.50.

$Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (HVN.AU)$ gained 4.8 per cent to $3.72 after the retailer revealed a planned $442 million share buyback. Earlier that day, the white goods and home retailer said its pre-tax profits had halved in July-September after sales momentum deteriorated faster than the market expected.

$Brambles Ltd (BXB.AU)$ dropped 5.7 per cent to $13.19 after re-affirming its full-year guidance but adding that volumes in its pallet businesses had continued to decline in the September quarter.

$Champion Iron Ltd (CIA.AU)$ was the best-performing stock on the benchmark on Friday, up 6.9 per cent at $6.94. Goldman Sachs and Macquarie analysts recently upgraded their price targets for the miner.

$ResMed Inc (RMD.AU)$ was 4 per cent lower at $21.56. Higher costs in the September quarter have further squeezed the health tech's gross margins.