ASX Today Live News & Analysis

Australia's share market has limped to the finish line in an almost flat session but held onto some of the week's gains that took it to all-time highs.

The S&P/ASX200 slipped 13.8 points on Friday, down 0.15 per cent to 9,019, as the broader All Ordinaries fell 11.9 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 9,317.2.

The top-200 has gained roughly 0.3 per cent since Monday, notched a best-ever close of 9,063 a day later on the back of a mining sector rally, and has trended higher in four of the past weeks.

"We've still managed to finish the week up 24 points ... but we did see falls throughout the day," CVS Capital Partners investor relations director Fiona Clark said.

"Most of those falls were due to political concerns about the meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese authorities next week, as well as the abrupt termination of (US) trade talks with Canada."

The lacklustre finish came ahead of a massive macroeconomic week that will include a key local inflation print, a speech by Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and interest rate decisions in the US, Japan and the EU.

Five of 11 local sectors pushed higher on Friday, led by a 1.3 per cent lift in IT stocks, while a weaker banking sector and a continued sell-off in gold stocks weighed on the bourse.

Financial stocks fell 0.5 per cent in the last session of the week as ANZ lost 1.0 per cent and CBA fell 0.8 per cent to $170.37.

The raw materials segment rose on Friday but finished the week two per cent lower after surging to a record high on the back of peaking gold prices and a critical minerals deal between Australia and the US.

Both gold producers and rare earth miners have faced a volatile ride since then and have been broadly weaker since.

Lithium plays have enjoyed a solid bounce however, with Pilbara Minerals and Liontown Resources notching double-digit gains since Monday.

Rio Tinto was the best of the large-cap miners, rallying 1.5 per cent to $131.82 as BHP gained 0.5 per cent - both buoyed by their copper exposure as iron ore prices lingered just above $US105 a tonne.

IT stocks outperformed the market, rallying 1.3 per cent after a strong lead from the Nasdaq following encouraging earnings from Tesla and Intel.

Local names like WiseTech Global (up 3.0 per cent), Life360 (up 1.9 per cent) and Megaport (up 1.3 per cent) were stand-outs.

Health care stocks snapped their three-week winning streak, falling one per cent since Monday as CSL dip-buyers took profits on the "easy money" rebound from the blood plasma giant's September lows.

Consumer staples stocks have fallen for eight of the past nine weeks, tumbling more than eight per cent in the process as investors eschew defensive stocks in favour of growth while global equities continue to break record highs.

The Australian dollar is buying 64.99 US cents, up slightly from 64.92 US cents on Thursday at 5pm, after holding a tight range with the greenback all week.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 fell 13.8 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 9,019

The broader All Ordinaries lost 11.9 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 9,317.2

The NZX 50 added 14.49 points (0.11%) to 13,391.59 while the Nikkei gained 658.04 points (1.33%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 49,299.65

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

Amotiv Limited

EVT Limited

Macmahon Holdings Limited

Supply Network Limited