ASX Today Live News & Analysis

Australia's share market has fallen for a fourth-straight session, with banks and miners weighing heavily on the bourse as the Persian Gulf conflict dims the global economic outlook.

The S&P/ASX200 slipped 6.9 points on Friday, down 0.08 per cent to 8,786.5, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 17.8 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 9,006.4.

The All Ordinaries fell 162.3 points, or 1.77 per cent, for the week.

"A soft week - one side of it is quite domestic in nature, the other side of it is obviously markets discounting potential growth risks because of the war in the Middle East," Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda told AAP.

"But overall, we're underperforming, and certainly not duplicating the record highs that we've seen clocked up on Wall Street."

Energy, utilities stocks and the traditionally defensive consumer staples sector had a positive week, buoyed by rising oil prices with no end in sight to the US-Iran conflict that has strangled a key crude shipping route.

Oil and gas giants Woodside and Santos both advanced on Friday, along with fuel producers Ampol and Viva Energy.

Viva recovered more than half of the share price loss it suffered following a fire at its Geelong refinery on April 15.??

It's now down 3.5 per cent since the incident to $2.40, with the fire's impact on output expected to be minor.

Miners dragged on the broader index on Friday, dipping one per cent for the session and down twice as much since Monday, as investors mulled the likelihood of a global slowdown.

Iron ore giants BHP and Rio Tinto largely held onto their recent gains, while Fortescue tumbled more than five per cent in the final session after a weak production update and little return so far from its green energy ramp-up.

Gold miners have had a week to forget, with the All Ordinaries gold sub-sector falling more than five per cent since Monday.

The precious metal slipped to $US4,673 ($A6,561) an ounce as the conflict scuppered hopes for US interest rate cuts.

The heavyweight financials sector staged a late comeback to snap a nine-session losing streak, but still lost roughly three per cent for the week.

CommBank shares were the best of the big four on Friday, up 0.6 per cent to $174.49. Westpac trailed the other three with a 0.3 per cent slip to $39.01.

Insurers were mixed, but Suncorp was a standout performer, rallying 4.5 per cent after securing up to $2.4 billion in reinsurance protection over five years.

Health care was the exchange's worst-performing sector for the week, tumbling 6.5 per cent to eight-year lows, with Cochlear's share price plummeting more than 40 per cent on Thursday after it slashed its full-year earnings guidance by more than a third.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.23 US cents, down from 71.52 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

Looking ahead, traders will be watching March inflation data due on Wednesday, tipped to show a notable uplift in price growth, IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.

"For the RBA, this critical report lands just days before their May 5 board meeting and will likely cement the case for a third consecutive 25-basis-point rate hike this year," Mr Sycamore said.??

"Tough times are certainly here, and it looks like things are poised to get tougher still."

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 dropped 6.9 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 8,786.5

The broader All Ordinaries lost 17.8 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 9,006.4

The NZX 50 Lost -30.73 points (-0.24%) to 12,874.94 while the Nikkei gained 1240.28 points (2.08%) at the time of writing, to be closed at 59,716.18