Australian stocks finished the day higher but the market was down for the week after three days of losses from Monday to Wednesday.
The share market opened lower with a debt crisis involving Portugal’s largest bank having a negative effect on trading in Australia’s major banks.
However those banks and the Australian market turned around during the day.
IG market strategist Stan Shamu said the May home loans data released on Friday, showing a steady rate of approvals, helped boost investor confidence.
“It confirmed that perhaps the domestic economy is improving,” he told AAP.
The major banks ended up outperforming the overall market, with ANZ up 19 cents to $33.35, Westpac 20 cents up at $33.95, NAB lifting 28 cents to $33.67 and Commonwealth Bank climbing 38 cents to $81.23.
Shares in David Jones, Australia’s oldest department store, were flat ahead of Monday’s shareholder vote on whether to let the company fall into the foreign hands of suitor South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings.
The stock is at $3.93, up more than 20 per cent since the bid lobbed in April.
* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 22.4 points, or 0.41 per cent, higher at 5,486.8.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 20.3 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 5,474.6.
* On the ASX 24, the September share price index futures contract was 34 points higher at 5,454, with 29,230 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 395 million securities worth $633 million.