The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a rather rocky end to the week's trading session on Friday. The ASX 200 ended up losing an anaemic 0.04%, falling to just over 6,790 points. But perhaps surprisingly, most of the ASX 200-dominating bank shares performed rather better.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price inched ahead, gaining 0.18% today to $97.80 a share. But Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares had a very healthy day indeed. Westpac rose 1.1% at $21.07 a share.
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) performed similarly. It finished up a robust 0.74% at $29.88 a share.
But it was the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price that really lit up the tyres. ANZ shares rose a pleasing 3.01% to $22.59 each. That comes after this ASX 200 bank share closed at $21.93 a share yesterday.
Why did the ANZ share price outshine the other ASX banks?
Well, we can't know for sure, seeing as there was nothing out today from ANZ itself that might easily explain this disparity.
However, we can consider that ANZ has been in the news this week in a big way. On Monday, the bank announced that it intends to acquire the banking arm of Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) for $4.9 billion. This would be one of the largest ASX bank deals in more than a decade.
ANZ's shares have been halted from trading for most of the week so that the bank could undertake capital raising to fund the acquisition. ANZ shares returned from this halt yesterday, but perhaps investors decided that the bank is looking good with its brand new bag today.
There is certainly no news or announcements out of the other ASX banks this week that come close to the significance of ANZ's plans. So this could be why we saw such enthusiasm for the ANZ share price today as we head into the weekend.
Whatever the reason, it was certainly a pleasing day for ANZ shareholders.
At the last ANZ share price, this ASX 200 bank share has a market capitalisation of $63.82 billion, with a dividend yield of 6.37%.
