SYDNEY: Australian shares ended modestly higher on Friday as supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles leapt as investors cheered the lack of reform proposals that could impact earnings, though losses in healthcare and financials capped gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index finished 0.2% higher at 7,931.20 points, erasing some gains from earlier in the session.
The benchmark, which confirmed a correction last Thursday and fell about 9% in the previous four weeks, recovered 1.8% this week - its best week so far this year.
Shares of top grocers Woolworths and Coles surged 6.3% and 4.9%, respectively, as investors bought the shares due to the lack of aggressive reforms from the country’s competition watchdog, as per analysts.
A report by the watchdog found Australia’s dominant supermarkets benefited from wider profit margins at a time of rapidly increasing shelf prices and called for measures to make the retail industry fairer.
Citi analysts called the regulator’s report “benign” and said no “material impact to supermarket earnings” was expected from the recommendations. That helped the consumer staples index surge 3.9% and clock its best intraday gain since April 2020.
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