A bank led rally to finish the week

The banks got the green light today, and when money flows into the big 4 the index tends to follow. Market ran with speculation CBA would be cutting a fifth of its staff as it moves to a more tech focussed model. The market does need to see all banks work on their cost cutting given the little loan growth available and at slimmer and slimmer margins. CBA was the best of the 4, adding nearly 2% today, but even the worst, NAB, jumped over 1%.

Elsewhere the UK facing names saw some relief as the BREXIT extension plays out – Clydesdale in particular rallied 5.71%. Perpetual (PPT) was the best performer today after posting a better than expected FUM update.

So a strong finish to a subdued week helped the market add 1.13% in the five sessions.

Overall today, the ASX 200 rose 52pts or +0.85% to 6251. Dow Futures are trading up +28 points / 0.15%.

ASX 200 Chart

ASX 200 Chart

CATCHING OUR EYE

Sectors this week;

Stocks this week;

Broker Moves

· Whitehaven Upgraded to Outperform at Macquarie; PT A$4.20

· Bank of Queensland Cut to Negative at Evans and Partners

· Bank of Queensland Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT A$8.50

· Janus Henderson GDRs Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT A$37

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