ASX Today Live News & Analysis

Australian shares have clocked a second week of modest progress, as global bond yields, stubborn oil prices and local economic woes cap investor confidence.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 55.7 points on Friday, up 0.64 per cent, to 8716.6, as the broader All Ordinaries advanced 54.5 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8877.7.

Almost all 11 sectors posted gains in the final session, with strong rebounds in consumer retail, real estate and IT stocks, while Telstra dragged the communications sector into the red.

Weakness in miners softened over the day, after a better-than-expected US bond auction drove Treasury yields and the greenback lower, handing precious metals and copper prices a boost.

The top-200 is up roughly 0.6 per cent in two weeks, but is still down more than six per cent from ??early August's record intraday high of 9296.7.

The week had not been good, but not terrible either, Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

"We're a market looking for a bit of a catalyst," Mr Rodda said.

Interest rate uncertainty and elevated crude prices were keeping investors on edge, despite US president Donald Trump promising no further strikes on Iran until the US midterm elections.

But investors have become wary of assurances from the president.

"The louder Trump is, the less likely he is to follow through with a threat," Mr Rodda said.

"So the second he stops talking about something or downplaying it, there's a risk that he actually does something."

Energy stocks ended the week two per cent higher, with Brent crude trading $US102.80 a barrel on Friday, its advance helping drag the raw materials sector to a sixth straight week of losses.

Gold miners clawed back some losses on Friday, as the precious metal firmed to $US4198 ($A6009) an ounce.

BHP has continued to linger around $61 per share, pulled by the opposing forces of global growth uncertainty and resilient copper demand.

The financials sector hasn't gone far for the past month, but remains more than 10 per cent down on all-time highs struck in August, as the softening housing market and economic woes punish banking stocks.

CommBank shares ended the week at $149.29, after notching their worst close since January on Thursday.

In company news, AI infrastructure company Firmus cancelled its blockbuster October 9 float, amid reports it hadn't secured enough interest to lock-in its targeted $44 billion valuation.

Construction services provider Maas, which owns a 3.2 per cent stake in Firmus, went into a trading halt after its shares tanked by more than a fifth on Thursday.

The Australian dollar is buying 69.83 US cents, up from 69.46 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 gained 55.7 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 8716.6

The broader All Ordinaries rose 54.5 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8877.7

The NZX 50 added 57.50 points (0.42%) to 13,749.35 while the Nikkei dropped -11.19 points (-0.02%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 69,030.92

Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):

EQT Holdings Limited