The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has just recorded another bumper week, even notching up another record high by Friday. Yes, the ASX 200 hit 7,186.8 points in intraday trading on Friday, which is now the index's new all-time high. The ASX 200 closed slightly below that peak at 7,179.5 points by end of trade.
It's the second record the index has now broken over the month of May. On 11 May, the ASX 200 hit 7,172.8 points, ending a ~15-month wait for it to get back to the levels we saw just before the big COVID-induced market crash last year.
As we pointed out last week, the ASX 200 is something of a laggard in this department. The US S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) passed its pre-COVID all-time high way back in August last year and is now almost 25% higher than that benchmark. For some context, if the ASX 200 had experienced those kinds of gains, it would be sitting pretty close to 9,000 points right now. But enough hypotheticals!
CBA share price hits $100
It was the ASX banks investors could largely thank for the ASX 200's new milestone. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price hit $100 for the first time ever last week, a move investors have been anticipating for more than 6 years now (CBA shares got painfully close back in 2015, but never hit 3 digits).
The big miners in BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) also did some of the index's heavy lifting. As did CSL Limited (ASX: CSL).
But, as mentioned in the headline, not all ASX shares were hitting record highs last week. Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC) was the worst ASX 200 performer with a nasty loss of 23.73% over the week. Investors seemed pretty spooked by the company's annual general meeting. An update Costa Group gave during this meeting indicated it would only be bringing in a similar profit level to what it managed for the first half of last year. Investors weren't impressed.
But overall, most ASX shares had a top week. We saw rising prices in ASX tech shares (which have tended to go in the opposite direction to the broader market in recent months). Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN), Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX: DHG) and Carsales.com Ltd (ASX: CAR) were among the biggest beneficiaries in this space.
We also saw healthy gains from other ASX blue chips like Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW).
How did the markets end the week?
As you can imagine, it was a pretty nice week overall for ASX shares. Monday and Tuesday both saw the markets start the week strongly, with gains of 0.22% and 0.98%, respectively. Wednesday brought with it the only down day of the week, with a loss of 0.32%.
But then Thursday and Friday turned things around again and brought gains of 0.03% and 1.19%, respectively. Since the ASX 200 started out at 7,030.3 points and finished up at 7,179.5 points, the week's gain stood at a healthy 2.12%.
Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also fared very well. The All Ords started out at 7,265.3 points and finished up at 7,424 points for a gain of 2.18%.
Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?
Time now for our most salacious of segments, where we break down the ASX 200's best winners and poorest losers. So put the kettle on and fetch the biscuits while we start with the losers:
| Worst ASX 200 losers | % loss for the week |
|---|---|
| Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC) | (23.7%) |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (ASX: FPH) | (12%) |
| CSR Limited (ASX: CSR) | (6.5%) |
| Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) | (5.6%) |
We've already discussed the ASX 200's wooden spoon recipient Costa Group but if you'd like to read more about the company's AGM, here's our coverage.
Next up we had the healthcare company Fisher & Paykel. Fisher & Paykel seems to have displeased investors with its full-year results, which were released on Thursday. This was rather surprising on the surface, given the company reported revenue growth of 56% and an 82% lift in net profits after tax. But perhaps its reluctance to provide any guidance on the year ahead did it no favours in investors' eyes.
Construction products company CSR was next up with a 6.5% fall. But this was due to one of the best reasons to have a company drop in value – the shares going ex-dividend. The company has a 24-cent-per-share dividend coming investors' way on 2 July.
And Resolute Mining fell, despite continuing strength in the gold price. Go figure.
Now with the losers out of the way, let's have a look at last week's winning ASX 200 shares:
| Best ASX 200 gainers | % gain for the week |
|---|---|
| HUB24 Ltd (ASX: HUB) | 18.5% |
| Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) | 17.1% |
| Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX: DHG) | 14.8% |
| Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) | 13.4% |
Wealth management platform HUB24 was the ASX 200's best performing share last week with a hefty 18.5% gain. Despite the size of this move, there was no obvious reason investors seemed to have comprehensively revaluated HUB24. However, this is a rather volatile company, so it's possible a group of investors simply decided the shares were too cheap last Friday.
Next up, we had the aforementioned Kogan. Again, there were no major developments for this e-commerce company last week. However, the shares have now bounced more than 17% after the company delivered a disappointing (at the time anyway) update last week. Kogan is now 0.4% higher than it was on the day before that particular update.
Property lister Domain was also on fire last week. A new potential acquisition Domain is participating in appears to have been the catalyst here. The company announced on Friday it is in talks to acquire PEXA from Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX: LNK) in conjunction with the private equity firm KKR. Investors seem to think it's a good idea.
And finally, we had lithium miner Pilbara Minerals. Once again, there appears to have been no official catalyst here, just some good old fashioned buying pressure.
A wrap of the ASX 200 blue-chip shares
Before we go, here is a look at the major ASX 200 blue-chip shares as we commence yet another week on the ASX boards:
| ASX 200 company | Trailing P/E ratio | Last share price | 52-week high | 52-week low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) | 38.4 | $289.12 | $320.42 | $242 |
| Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) | 22.37 | $100.56 | $100.56 | $61.74 |
| Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) | 22.64 | $26.46 | $26.49 | $16 |
| Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) | 17.48 | $28.86 | $29.55 | $16.40 |
| National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) | 20.79 | $27.07 | $27.84 | $16.56 |
| Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) | 8.32 | $22.12 | $26.40 | $12.95 |
| Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) | 37.41 | $41.91 | $42.57 | $34.26 |
| Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) | 33.49 | $55.53 | $56.40 | $39.78 |
| BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) | 27.17 | $48.16 | $51.82 | $33.73 |
| Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) | 15.9 | $123.02 | $132.94 | $90.04 |
| Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) | 21.12 | $16.61 | $19.26 | $15.04 |
| Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) | 23.42 | $3.49 | $3.58 | $2.66 |
| Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) | – | $13.90 | $15.64 | $12.36 |
| Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) | – | $5.92 | $7.49 | $4.99 |
| Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) | 18.19 | $28.12 | $38.15 | $23.08 |
| Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) | – | $22.11 | $27.60 | $16.80 |
| Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) | 18.49 | $152.47 | $162.06 | $107.03 |
| Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) | – | $93.93 | $160.05 | $44.87 |
And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:
- S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) at 7,179.5 points.
- All Ordinaries Index (XAO) at 7,424 points.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJX: .DJI) at 34,529 points after rising 0.19% on Friday night (our time).
- Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) going for US$35,931 per coin.
- Gold (spot) swapping hands for US$1,904 per troy ounce.
- Iron ore asking US$184.60 per tonne.
- Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$68.72 per barrel.
- Australian dollar buying 77.11 US cents.
- 10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 1.69% per annum.
That's all folks. See you next week!
