The market finished the week at 6,004.78 points, up 67.33 from the previous week's close of 5,937.45. On Friday's trade the All Ordinaries finished down 3.92 points or 0.06 per cent.
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On Monday, JB Hi-Fi (JBH) posted an in-line with consensus 37.4pc lift in profit to $151.7m. The result was driven by strong Christmas trade and its 2016 acquisition of The Good Guys. Margins came under pressure as JBH focuses on growing market share at the expense of lower profits. Its shares fell 8pc as analysts were disappointed by its guidance. JBH is expecting profits of between $235-$240m for FY18. JBH ended the week on $26.78.
On Tuesday, Cochlear (COH) recovered from early morning losses to finish flat following its earnings announcement. Revenue was up by just 1pc while profits fell 1pc to $110.8. Earnings were held back partly because the Australian dollar strengthened against the USD, which is a negative (US is COH’s biggest market). A $5.5m one-off hit from the recent US company tax cut also failed to help. COH ended the week on $173.17.
On Wednesday, Insurance Australia Group (IAG) was 3.2pc higher after reporting a 24pc increase to its first half net profit to $551 million. IAG did see Gross Written Premium flat at $5.83 billion from $5.8 billion, the same time last year but has lifted its guidance for reported margin to 15.5pc-17.5pc. IAG ended the week on $7.70.
On Thursday, Telstra (TLS) shares rose 0.6pc after its $1.7bn 1H18 profit beat the market’s expectations thanks to successful cost cutting initiatives and a lift in its mobile business. It has maintained its dividend, paying out $0.11/share on 29 March ($0.075 ordinary dividend and $0.035 special dividend). TLS has a yield a 8.9pc. TLS ended the week on $3.43.
At the close of weekly trading, the gold price finished at $1,356.20 per ounce, the WTI oil price traded at $61.68 a barrel, and the Australian dollar was worth US $0.7905.
In the US on Friday night, the Dow Jones finished up 19.01 points to end the week at 25,219.38. The Share Price Index (SPI) finished down 7 points at 5,850 which should lead to a negative start to today’s trade.
