Tech shares led the ASX 200 market sectors with a 3.23% uplift over the five trading days.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose 0.98% to finish at 8,408.9 points on Friday.
The world was on edge this week following the inauguration of United States President Donald Trump.
On his first day in office, Trump signed a slew of executive orders, including removing the US from the World Health Organisation and withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
He also indicated that 1 February was a likely target date to start 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
Eight of the 11 market sectors finished the week in the green.
Let's recap.
Technology shares led the ASX sectors last week
Trump's election win has boosted technology stocks given his pledge to deregulate the US tech industry.
He certainly appears to have personal support from the tech "oligarchy" that former president Joe Biden discussed in his outgoing television address to the nation.
Among the official guests seated close to Trump and his family members at the inauguration ceremony were Tesla boss Elon Musk, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon executive chair Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Gains on the Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) tend to flow through to ASX tech stocks, and that happened again last week.
As of Friday Australian time, the NASDAQ was up 2.14% for the week with one day of US trading to go.
Among the largest ASX tech stocks last week, WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) shares rose by 3.06% to close at $120.23 per share on Friday.
The Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) share price lifted 3.30% to close at $172.88 on Friday.
Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT) shares ascended 2.55% to finish the week at $15.90 per share.
TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE) shares rose by 2.22% to $29.52 per share.
The Codan Ltd (ASX: CDA) share price rose by 3.43% to $15.97 per share.
Life360 Inc (ASX: 360) shares soared 8.77% to $24.93 per share.
Data#3 Ltd (ASX: DTL) shares lifted 4.42% to $6.85 per share.
Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL) shares rose by 2.46% to $5.41 at the close on Friday.
Objective Corporation Ltd (ASX: OCL) shares rose by 3.57% to $16.40 per share.
Stock in Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) surged 12.06% to finish the week at $8.55.
This dramatic gain was interesting, given that the data network provider did not provide any price-sensitive news, and it remained among the 10 most shorted stocks on the market.
Catapult Group International Ltd (ASX: CAT) shares also leapt higher on no news. The Catapult share price lifted 9.57% to $3.78 per share on Friday.
Last week, Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) shares were in the red, tumbling 10.29% to $2.44 apiece on Friday.
ASX 200 market sector snapshot
Here's how the 11 market sectors stacked up last week, according to CommSec data.
Over the five trading days:
S&P/ASX 200 market sector | Change last week |
Information Technology (ASX: XIJ) | 3.5% |
Financials (ASX: XFJ) | 3.11% |
Consumer Discretionary (ASX: XDJ) | 2.25% |
Industrials (ASX: XNJ) | 1.16% |
A-REIT (ASX: XPJ) | 0.66% |
Healthcare (ASX: XHJ) | 0.66% |
Communication (ASX: XTJ) | 0.49% |
Utilities (ASX: XUJ) | 0.26% |
Consumer Staples (ASX: XSJ) | (0.06%) |
Materials (ASX: XMJ) | (1.31%) |
Energy (ASX: XEJ) | (2.41%) |